Born This Way
by XMimiSweetX
Summary: After winning a contest to go into space, you crash and land in the Ratchet and Clank universe. But without your memory, it's not the dream it would be. and it's not long before you find yourself in love with Ratchet and this "dream" becomes a nightmare.
1. Chapter I

**Now, I was waiting for my Sly Cooper stories to be complete, but I really wanted to do a story with Ratchet and Clank! I started this story on 01/04/12, when I was almost done with Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One. I fell in love with the game and with the series, and this takes place during Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time.**

**Genres: Romance, drama, and adventure**

**Rating: T for violence, language, the usual**

**Pairings: RatchetXYou**

**Summary: You're a hardcore video game addict, most fond of Ratchet and Clank. When you win a contest to board a real spaceship, it crashes into an unknown planet. You wake up as a Lombax, and you meet Ratchet! Normally, it'd be a dream come true, but you don't remember anything, not even your real name. You uncover who you truly are as your world turns into a nightmare.**

**Your POV:**

You're on your laptop that cost you $600. It was so worth it. Now you don't have to share with your parents, and you can spend as much time on the internet as you want to-when you're not typing up something for school. You've got an essay due for English class, and you've already finished your graphics work. You had to design a character, and that was the coolest thing ever, no joke.

The essay isn't due for a couple of days, but if you get it done now, you won't have to worry about it and then you have more time for video games! Video games are your passion, your calling life. People said it would be a waste to just be on the internet and on your PS3 all of the time, but you've made a living out of it!

Now you're in school at the Academy of Art as a junior, almost 23 now, and you're going to graduate and design video games. What you really want to do is work on a Ratchet and Clank game, but doing a Sly Cooper or a Jak and Daxter would be just as good. But Ratchet and Clank are your favorite. You had a Clank magnet in your locker when you were in high school. And you still have a poster in your dorm. With your PS3, PS2, and how many PSPs. You just got an Xbox 360 and it's amazing.

You don't have a roommate, thankfully, so you completely customized it. It's full of video game posters and bookshelves were your games are kept. And it's nice and clean too. Just the way you like it.

Printing out your essay (happy to be done with it) you turn on your PS3 and start playing A Crack in Time. It's just too awesome. But you were like heartbroken when it looked like Ratchet died. You're one of his proud fangirls, even though he's not even remotely human. You've had crushes on Sly and Jak too, but Ratchet defiantly wins out.

You start playing when you receive a call on your iPhone 4. You pause your game and pick it up on the nightstand next to your bed. "Hello?" You asked. The voice quality totally makes it worth all the money you paid for it.

"Is this Miss Arianna Artenie?" A voice asks.

"Indeed it is." You smile.

"Well, I have good news for you: you've won our free trip to space contest!"

You must've busted the person's eardrum, because you screamed as if you were being murdered. You started jumping up and down and kept screaming, "YES! YES! YES!" You couldn't help it! You put your name in that drawing forever ago, only once, you weren't expecting to win! But you're going on a real spaceship! It will be self-auto piloted and everything, but you will get to go into outer space!

You're eating breakfast with your female nerdy friends. You've always been pretty popular, especially with nerds.

"You're so lucky!" Christina, with her olive skin and light green eyes obviously Greek, says first. She and Faith are your absolute best friends-no one could replace them. But there's still one more person who you didn't think you would heal if you lost them.

Faith, blonde and French, scoots over so your boyfriend-one and only-Justin can sit next to you.

You've been dating him since freshman year. He's was your first serious boyfriend, and now fiancé. You're going to get married, have children, and design the best video games the world has ever known. You're just so excited for future you're going to have with him. You're going to make Faith and Christina godmothers, defiantly. You look at the white gold ring on your finger. It's beautiful.

It was the most magical night of your life. He took you to the highest cliff in town, and you watched the stars. He made all of your favorite foods, and you danced to your favorites songs, including you and Justin's song, "Lucy" by Skillet. Then he got down on one knee and asked you to marry him.

But Faith and Christina could never be replaced. Faith and Christina aren't as hardcore as you when it comes to video games, but they'll always play co-op in All 4 One with you when they're not busy. They and Justin were there for you when your father died, and you don't know what you would've done without them during that time. And when you were crying, Justin dropped everything and just held you. You've told them everything. You don't keep secrets, not from them. You've got the utmost trust in them.

"Hey Arianna." Justin smiled, taking your hand and kissing your forehead. You smile and give a deep breath and rest your head on his shoulder. "Are you guys talking about the contest?" You texted immediately after apologizing to the woman on the phone for blasting her ears about winning the contest.

"We are." Faith nodded. "How long are you going to be gone?"

You smile. "Only for a few days; I'm leaving tomorrow, so after class, I'm going to go pack. Now I can get a better view of the universe than from some telescope!"

"So you'll be back on Saturday?" Justin asks.

You nod in response, giving him a quick kiss. "Yeah. I just need to tell my professors where I'm gonna be and get all of my work to catch up on over the weekend. It's gonna be amazing!"

After classes, you start packing your things. You take clothes, toilet trees, and just for the sake of your sanity, you stuff your iPod touch in your back pocket, but you take your ear buds instead of your SkullyCandy headphones since ear buds are more portable.

Taking your suitcase, you call a taxi and while you wait, you say goodbye to your best friends and fiancé. You hug Faith and Christina, and kiss Justin goodbye. "Just look at it this way," You start, knowing he's going to miss you just like you would him. "In a few years, we're going to have a beautiful healthy baby. Do you want a boy or a girl?" You ask.

"I don't care which gender the baby is," You like how Justin refers to it as "the baby", instead of "it". It just sounds gentler, more loving to you. "I'll love the baby all the same, just like I do you." He kisses you one more time before the taxi pulls up.

You hug your bffls who you know you're going to live next to when they marry whoever they do, and your children are going to grow up together and fall in love and it'll just be the biggest happy ending ever. "I'll see you guys in a few days." You said as you place your suitcase in the trunk and you drive to the space shuttle.

After going through precautions (which took fucking forever) and getting your stuff onto the ship, you were ready. You were strapped in, and ready for lift-off. It's just like on TV and in cartoons; they do the countdown and you're in outer space-after screaming and hearing roaring engines.

It's just…beautiful. You can see billions and billions of stars and you see the planets. It's all just breathtaking. It's so much better than just looking at it through your telescope when you were little. You never wanted to be an astronaut, but with this experience, you may just change your mind about careers.

You just wish Justin could see this. You know he's your one, and you'd give anything-even all of your game consoles-for him to be sitting right next to you. You want him to see this with you.

Feeling drained from all of the processes you had to go through to get onto this ship, and from the longing for your lover, you feel yourself fall asleep.

You're suddenly awoken you don't know how much later by an alarm. There's a red light flashing. You jump from your seat, and read the screen. The auto pilot malfunctioned. The ship is off course. You don't even know where you are.

You take the wheel, having no idea what you're doing, and you turn. The ship jerks to the right and you're thrown to the ground. You take a deep breath and try again, but it's not working! The alarm gets louder, and you crashed against something!

The world just crashes down on you.

This just can't be it! You can't just crash into a planet, burn up, and die! You have a life! You've got a future with the people nearest and dearest to you! No, it can't end here! You try getting in contact with someone, but you're too far out of range. They can't reach you.

Remembering one last line from the song most important to you, you murmur, "I'll see you…in another life." Then…it's just…black.

**Thanks for reading peeps! I hope you've enjoyed it so far. As you can guess, Arianna is not dead, and unlike my Sly Cooper series, she won't believe she's unconscious.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	2. Chapter II

**This chapter is for SerenityColtheart for being awesome and reviewing the first chapter. This is the second chapter, when Arianna first meets Ratchet and realizes she doesn't have any of her memories. This will play a bigger role later on. Note: I wanted her to be closer friends with Clank, but that would require going farther back than A Crack in Time. And this story is about Ratchet anyway.**

**Your POV:**

There's a really bright light. You don't know where it's coming from, but you can see it through your closed eyelids. There's somebody shaking you urgently. You groan and turn over on your side. Then you feel something poking you in the side.

Letting out a shriek, you jump up, and feel around for a weapon only to discover you're empty-handed. You don't know who this person is-he's got a tail, he's yellow, fuzzy, and has marks on his big ears. "Who are you?" You demand.

He waves his free hand, as the other has a weapon in it. Or at least, it looks like a weapon. "Calm down-my name is Ratchet. I found you out here. I'm not here to hurt you."

He looks honest. He gives you smile, and you relax a little. "Sorry. You just startled me." He's dressed in full body-armor. It looks cool! Looking down at yourself, you see you're…dresses in something that doesn't look anything like Ratchet's outfit.

"It's cool. What's your name?"

It was a simple question. You know what a name is. But when you try to bring it up, you just draw a blank. You don't remember your name, or anything about yourself-like how you came to be out here. "…" You shrug. "I…don't remember."

Turning his head a bit, he looks beyond your shoulder. "It looks like you lost your memory when your ship crashed."

"Ship?" You turn around, and indeed, there's a ship behind you. The cockpit is wide open and the ship is devastated. You defiantly must've crashed into something before you landed, because all sides of the ship are damaged. "…Oh."

Ratchet took a step forward. "I'll help you fix it up. But…what should I call you?" It seems like it's more of a question to himself than to you.

You shrug. "You found me; I guess you get to name me." You said lightheartedly with a small laugh. You're speaking of yourself as if you're some sort of pet.

"Hmm…what about Kiari?"

You like it. It sounds just a bit unusual, but still feminine and pretty. He pronounces it key-r-ree. "I like it." You nod. "By the way, what's with the full-body-armor?"

He actually looks sullen. You feel bad you asked about it. He took the time to help you when he could've just ignored and left you to fend for yourself. "I'm actually getting ready for a mission. I need to find my friend, Clank."

Now you feel bad. He's trying to help his friend, but instead, he stopped to help a stranger. "I'm sorry," You start. "I didn't mean to get in your way."

Ratchet shook his head. "No, don't worry about it-it wasn't your fault. Besides, I just couldn't leave you there unconscious. I'm assuming you don't have weapons."

You shrug and turn to your ship, prying open the cockpit. Indeed, there are no weapons and no supplies, meaning you would've been screwed over if it wasn't for Ratchet. You jump out of the ship and shake your head. "No, there's nothing in there."

Ratchet looks disappointed and concerned. "Well, I'll take you back to the city; see if we can find some help."

You smile. "Thanks. I owe you, Ratchet." You said, shaking his hand. Your hand is furry, and looks like Ratchet's. "By the way," You start. "What am I?" You ask, embarrassed that you can't even remember your own species.

He looks at you funny for a minute, but smiles again. "You're a Lombax, the same as me."

"Really?" You ask, looking at him. "But you've got a tail, I don't."

"I don't think females have tails."

You shrug, still embarrassed over your amnesia, and agree to follow him back to town. But you could you make a bigger fool of yourself?

**Ratchet's POV:**

You're amazed. You've never seen another Lombax in your life; you thought you were the only one left. You were hoping that she'd be able to tell you where she came from to see if you meet other Lombaxes, but that won't happen until when-and if- she remembers where she comes from and who she is.

"Hey Kiari, what do you remember?" You don't want to push her or anything, but you've heard that asking questions can help jog a person's memory. "I mean, do you remember how to read and write and stuff like that?"

She shakes her head. "No, nothing like that."

That's disappointing. And it could make things harder for her later, if she can't remember basic skills like reading and writing. That's too bad, because Kiari (or whatever her real name is) seems really nice. But does amnesia reset your personality? You wish Clank was here. He'd know all about that.

You miss him. He's your best friend, you've known for almost ten years now. And it still feels weird-lonely-without him around. The first few days without him were really hard. But it does feel good about having somebody to talk to.

**Your POV:**

Ratchet seems so nice. Instead of making fun of you, he's taking you back to town. You need to repay him somehow. You need to something in return for him. And not something small either. Ratchet saved you, it has to be something equivalent or greater than that.

The city is huge. It's full of giant, beautiful buildings and things called railway stations and there are ships flying around, and it's just amazing! Did you come from a place like this? You hope so. It's just incredible.

"Impressed?" Ratchet asks.

You nod. "Yeah." This must seem every day, not usual to Ratchet, but to you it is. "Are there other cities like this?" You ask.

"Yeah, tons." He nodded.

"Whoa." With a city this large, there has to be somebody who can help you. It looks so advanced, it should be full of intelligent people that know about your condition.

You went to see a doctor. He told you that only being around familiar people and settings would bring your memory back. You have no idea where you came from and you crashed in a ship. Without being around friends and family, it'll be a while-or maybe never-when you get your memories back.

Ratchet can tell you're disappointed. "Hey Kiari, don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember eventually." He said, patting your back.

You offer a small smile, feeling a little bit better thanks to his encouragement. Looking (once again) at the strange object in his hand, you ask, "Ratchet, what is that?"

"Oh this? It's my weapon." Seeing your face, he explains, "It's for melee attacks."

"Cool." You smile. You should get one; after all, it's not going to be easy doing anything without be able to defend yourself. "Can you show me how to use it?" You ask.

"Sure, but later; we don't want to wreck anything."

You're pretty good at using Ratchet's wrench. Your aim is off when you throw it, but when you use it close up, it's very effective. And it's enjoyable, almost natural to you. Ratchet took you back to the outskirts to practice, and then you went back to the city to get your own. It looks like Ratchet's, except it's red.

"So…" Ratchet started. "What are you gonna do now?"

What are you going to do now? You don't have a home, or family, or anyone place that could help jog your memory. "I think I should go with you to help you find your friend."

"W-What?" He seems too surprised, it's actually kind of cute. "Are you sure? I mean, you'll have to deal with Qwark and it's dangerous and all…"

You scoff. "Please, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. And I'll have you there to help me out. Besides, I need to repay you for helping me out like this, and what else am I supposed to do? I've got nowhere else to go."

Ratchet looks pleased. "Alright. Well, thanks for the help."

You smile in return. "Hey, after all you've done for me, it's the least I could do."

**Okay, crappy chapter, I realize this. But don't worry; it will get better. You should expect more drama and ties to other stories later on. This is the sister story to my Sly Cooper story, "Wonderland". You don't have to read it, but it's recommended. **


	3. Chapter III

**I bring you the third chapter of Born This Way! For information on my stories and characters (including updates and summaries) can be on my profile. Just look for bold titles to find the information you're looking for. It's all organized by story.**

**Your POV:**

"_Space. It's huge. So huge, in fact, that if you lost your car keys in it, they would be almost impossible to find. Luckily for Ratchet and his friend Kairi, Captain Copernicus L. Qwark was on the case. His mission: rescue the Lombax's one and only friend. Yep, without Clank, Ratchet was online in the universe. Alone, alone, alone…except for the little female in the back."_

Does he ever shut up! You've been sitting in the back of Ratchet's ship listening to this guy shoot his mouth off for not even an hour and you already want to open the hatch and jump out. How did this guy ever get to be president? Who the hell voted for him!

And Ratchet didn't want to hear that, the hell is wrong with him. You could see Ratchet's face, and you knew Qwark's words got to him. "You know this ship has an ejector seat, right?" Ratchet reminded him.

Obviously he was thinking the same thing you were. If you weren't better than that, you would've asked where the button was.

"Sorry." Qwark apologized. "I guess you can say I've been a little 'antsy in my pantsy' at the thought of getting back into the hero business!" He held up his fists. "Yep, these wild stallions have been in the stable too long." He made several "chopping" noises. You were very tempted to smack him.

"Right." You saw the little eye roll Ratchet gave him. "Look, just keep your eyes peeled. Talwyn says this sector is crawling with mercenaries."

You nodded. "Yeah, and my name is _Kiari_, not Kairi." _Be nice_, you thought. You spoke to Talwyn briefly before you left. She seemed nice. You'd prefer her over this a-hole, that's for sure. But Lombaxes must be rare, because she was startled to see you were one, and you didn't see any others in the city.

"Rest easy, my friend." Qwark's personality seems very familiar to you, like you've seen it before. "My vigilance is both eternal and peripheral."

**Ratchet's POV:**

Looking back at Kiari, she looks like she's in pain. She _has_ to be nice if she's restraining herself from shouting at Qwark. He really doesn't change, and you can already tell it's going to be just _so_ much fun having him on this mission.

**Your POV:**

Right after Qwark finished his sentence, an alarm went off and the ship's system said, "Warning. Warning. Unidentified anomaly detected." The front of the ship flashed red near the dashboard from the screen that showed skull and crossbones. That can't be good. Behind you, something that looked like blue lightning was dangerously close.

"Hang on," You did what Ratchet said. "Shifting to evasive maneuvers." However, it proved to be futile as the entire ship seemed to be electrified by the anomaly. The thrusters shut off almost immediately and the ship was losing altitude and heading straight for a planet.

While Ratchet tried to get the ship under control with you leaning forward awaiting any command. Qwark wasted no time panicking. "Oh no! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! Good thing I'm wearing clean underwear!"

…You did _not_ need to know that.

"Will you shut up!" Ratchet snapped. "We are not gonna die. Aphelion, engage grav-o-metric stabilizers!"

"Negative. Stabilizers offline. Thrusters offline. Landing flaps offline."

Seeing Ratchet's face turn to one of panic, did not help the situation or your nerves.

"Alright. So, we're gonna die."

You joined them in screaming as the ship plummeted and spiraled into the planet.

You crashed through several trees (and both of the wings had fallen off) and then you flip-flopped until you skidded along the ground until you came to a cliff. "Hang on!" Ratchet shouted.

"Hanging on!"

The ship stops just as soon as it malfunctioned. In fact, everything has stopped. The yellow birds are just…there. They were in midflight, but now everything is motionless. However, it's only certain areas, like the waterfalls are still moving. One side of you is grateful for this, but the other is questioning how this is possible.

"Whoa…" Ratchet said, looking at the scene.

"I know…" You actually thought he was going to say something that actually made sense, but then… "So much for clean underwear." You were not the only one horrified by his words. You did not need to know _that_, either.

…And the airbags went off, pressing Ratchet and Qwark into their seats and (since there was one on each side) squishing you in the back.

After popping them with a needle on the floor of the (now destroyed) ship (which also seems to be stuck in some kind of anti-gravital force or something), you guys jumped out. "Where the heck are we?" Ratchet asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"Beats me. Perhaps a leisurely stroll through this uncharted jungle will solve the mystery."

You looked at Ratchet. "I don't know anything about this 'hero business', but isn't going through uncharted territory bad?"

"Usually," Ratchet nodded. "But then again, what choice do we have?"

You shrugged, and agreed it was for the best. Anything was better than being stuck in that ship listening to Qwark going on and on.

And then he started again. "Marooned on a hostile alien environment, Captain Qwark realized his rescue mission would pit him against the most terrifying evil of all: nature itself."

On the bright side, the jungle is beautiful. There are plenty of waterfalls and vegetation, and pretty wildlife. However, coming to the bridge, you came across some purple alien-looking things (that Qwark ran away from). But they were easy, and defeating them with just one blow each other proved that Qwark was just a coward who took credit for other people's work. You guessed that "other people's work" meant mostly Ratchet.

Some of the bridge was gone which required jumping, and coming across, you discovered that Qwark was failing to defend himself. "Ah! Ratchet! Kiara! Nature is attacking!"

Smacking away one of the aliens you snapped, "My name is Kiari!" To make matters worse, it had started pouring.

Coming to a waterfall and no way across the water, you saw that Qwark was too big to use the chucks of land that separated the water and jump across.

"Okay, slight problem…I'm not so good with swimming."

"Just wait here," Ratchet said. "We'll find you another way across."

You nodded, following Ratchet and getting to stretch your legs. You're happy to be out of that ship; you can't sit still for that long.

"Oh great," Qwark muttered. "This rain is gonna be murder on my spandex." You rolled your eyes in response.

You stood close by as Ratchet turned the crank on the winch and raised the bridge. "What's the plan, anyway?" Qwark shouted from over the roar of the waterfall.

As Qwark joined you, Ratchet explained, "Well, where there are bridges, there are people. Where there are people, there are ships. You see where I'm going with this?"

"Hey! That's pretty smart. You're going to make a great sidekick!"

Watching Qwark break down a wall that stood in your way, you turned to your friend again. "Yes Ratchet, you're the sidekick. Seriously, how do you deal with this?"

He shrugged. "Eh, you'll get used to him."

Following Qwark, you see another one of those time rift things. "Whoa, guys are you seeing this? Something is seriously wrong with this planet."

"It's like time is all-not working." Qwark said.

Your memory would be really useful right now. If you had seen anything like this before, you would be able to apply past knowledge to a new situation. Only…you didn't know who you were. Today was going to be enjoyable.

"Rumble, you stupid door…" Qwark muttered as he rammed himself against another wall.

"We'll find another way around. You gonna be all right with those things on the loose?" Ratchet asked.

"Please, I can handle a few tiny creatures."

"Right…" You said, following close behind Ratchet. You felt more than a little concerned for his safety.

Looking at the airborne, frozen-in-time rocks, you and Ratchet used them to ascend onto a cliff. Jumping down, you were only standing for a second before Qwark broke through the wall shouting in fear, "Help! Their parents are here!"

Okay, their parents weren't even that much bigger, maybe an inch or so taller.

Taking them out, you think about how sorry you feel for Ratchet. He had his best friend taken away from him, and then he had to deal with this fool who reminded him that without Clank, he was all alone in the universe. You feel…terrible about it, really.

You wonder if how he feels is how your friends feel. You wonder if they're thinking about you, asking themselves where you are, and if you're okay. You suddenly feel guilty for making them worry like that. But you can't just abandon Ratchet. He needs someone useful to help him find his friend, and then you can go find yours.

Having to go across another river, you jump across more stones and but you lift the bridge this time. Qwark kicks down the door, which is actually more of a wall. "This door is ajar!" He said "bravely".

Both you and Ratchet roll your eyes, but only Ratchet remarks, "Oh, brother…"

More purple creatures came at the three of you, but it wasn't long before you were able to take them out. You tried throwing your wrench so to attack from a distance…only to hit Ratchet in the head with it when it bounced off a rock.

"Ow!" Ratchet yelled, rubbing his head.

You winced. "Oops! Sorry Ratchet, are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Sorry." You said again. "It was an accident."

He smiled. "Yeah, it's fine, you're still learning."

Great. Now on top of being stuck with Qwark, his best friend being most likely a million miles away from here, he has to deal with your incompetence with a weapon and the splitting headache you just gave him. You're a _wonderful_ friend. Seriously, why couldn't you have hit Qwark instead!

After heading down the dirt road, a woman native to the land (possibly able to explain what was wrong with the planet's gravity), crying for help. "Oh, help! Help! Please, please help me! My children, they're in danger!"

Trying to look good, Qwark asked, "What seems to be the problem, citizen?"

"Zyphoids!" The woman started to explain. "We were fishing up the river when they attacked!"

"Qwark, stay here." Ratchet ordered. "We'll go save the children."

"You got it, sidekick!" Qwark said confidently (more likely relieved that he would've have to do any fighting). "Smart thinking. I'll just stay here and hold the fort."

Getting away from Qwark, you muttered, "Yes Ratchet, you're so the sidekick."

Ratchet gives you a smile in return and faced. "We'll do this faster if we split up. You take left, I'll go right. Just shout if you need backup."

You nodded in response. "Same to you. And again, I'm sorry about hitting in the head. Maybe I'll just stick to being at a closer distance."

He laughs a bit in response. "It's fine, it was an accident."

You shrug. "Well, I'll see you in a minute."

"Right." He gave you a single nod and you rushed off in different directions.

**Chapter three people! Wow, I feel accomplished. Two updates in one day. How awesome am I? Now excuse me, while I go work on the update for "Wonderland".**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	4. Chapter IV

**Here's the next chapter of Born This Way! Don't worry; I am working on the update for Wonderland. But I'm on a roll for this story! It's too bad I go back to school tomorrow.**

**Your POV:**

Taking off in the near-opposite direction of Ratchet, there's a little boy that strongly resembled his mother. You get close, but not too close where there's the danger of hitting the boy in the head. You're not throwing it here, after what happened to Ratchet. Fortunately, you're not Qwark, and you don't run away from creatures half your size. They're the "parents" of the tinier ones, but they're still easy to eliminate.

The kid stares at you in wonder and amazement. "Wow," At first you thought he was just impressed that you fended off all the creatures by yourself (little children are easily impressed), but he was more amazed by something else. "Are you a _real_ Lombax?"

You laugh and nod. "Indeed, I am. Well, it's safe now, so let's get you back to your mom."

You return to the woman and Qwark to find that Ratchet had already saved the first. The woman is beside herself with gratitude, but she informs you there's still her daughter to save. "Take this one together?" You ask.

Ratchet nodded, and you headed for the path in front of you. There's a valley with worse gravity issues than the rest of the planet. Rocks keep changing position, but you see the little girl in the center on a platform. "Mom! Dad! Somebody!" Her fearful cries for help tug on your heartstrings.

Ratchet pointed to the moving rocks and the surfaces you could use to get to her. Looking at Ratchet and then looking down at yourself, you wonder where you could get armor like that. It would certainly help you to blend it, and it might come in handy.

"I wanna go home now." She said as you reached her. Turning the crank, the bridge connected to the other side from where you came. "Thanks, kitties!"

Escorting the little girl back to her mother, the woman smiled, her expression one of relief. "Oh, thank you so much."

"Happy to be of service, ma'am!" Qwark said…although, once again, he did nothing.

Ignoring him and her eyes staying on you and Ratchet, she said, "The zyphoids will be back soon. Come, we have to go into the village!"

You, Ratchet, Qwark, and the children (with their adorable little squishy footsteps) followed close behind. "So what are these things?" Ratchet asked.

Speaking of your clothes, there's something in your pocket. It's light, but you can feel it. Reaching into your back pocket, you pull out something…weird. It's small, silver with a black screen, and rectangle-shape. On the screen, it says…something in a language you do not speak, but there's an arrow on a bar. Meh, you'll fiddle with it later, you decided putting it back in your pocket.

"Mutated viruses from the Cortho sector. We haven't seen them on this planet in years-something must've happened to the Zoni. Alpheas, open the door!"

"The Zoni?" You questioned. That name sounds very familiar, as if in other circumstances you'd be able to tell exactly what they were, who they were, and why the existed. There's something there, it is there…

Nope. Nothing. You thought you had something. Oh well.

The door is opened, and before you is a man with blue skin carrying a staff or wand or something. "Enessa? What are you doing out here?" He sounds like he has a nasal condition from the way his voice sounds.

"The zyphoids are back. There must be something wrong with the time keeper."

"Not in front of the outsiders! Quickly, we must head into the village."

The path to the village was filled with more creatures, and you decided you defiantly needed to save up some bolts for armor and a new weapon. You made a note to practice your aim…when there weren't small children and innocent adults around.

"These woods are no longer safe! Come, we can offer you sanctuary within these walls." Alpheas pressed the bottom of his staff to a blue stone on the ground, and the door opened, leading to a village with a few bands playing. The most prominent instrument was the flute. "I saw your starship crash on the other side of the ridge. I believe we may be of assistance."

Ratchet shook his head as you followed Alpheas. "The ship's trashed. There's no way we'll be able to repair it."

"Ah, but the Zoni can! Meet me at the temple of Zahn whenever you are ready. I will explain everything!"

Looking around the village, you can't help but compare to the city. After all, they're the only places you remember ever being to. It's certainly a lot quieter, and the buildings are made of stone. There's a lot less diversity in the people. It appears that everyone is of the same race. The village is a lot smaller too, and lacks the stations and air taxis. You suddenly find yourself missing the city, but also eager to explore other places.

Catching up to Qwark after a staircase and getting him away from the statue of Zahn (the previous chief of the village), you met up with Alpheas. "Your starship is not beyond repair. But fixing it will take powers beyond anything this universe has ever seen; powers not to be taken lightly." He then asked in a lower, whisper-like voice, "Can you keep a secret?" _Can_ you keep a secret? Knowing it was the best thing to do, you and Ratchet nodded. "The Zoni are powerful creatures, capable of almost anything. But they are also hive-minds, and must be kept together for their energy to work. Inside is a vessel which will allow you to rescue lost Zoni and harness their bioenergy. Follow me, and don't touch anything."

"You got it." You said assuredly.

Following them into the first chamber, Qwark, one of the sons, and Alpheas stood on what looked like buttons. "We'll have to seal you inside until you recover the vessel." Alpheas explained. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here? We have a lovely miniature golf course!"

You laugh a little bit. "As tempting as that sounds…"

"We'll be fine." Ratchet said. "Qwark, link into my naphet. We'll stay in radio contact." You should seriously find out about the technology Ratchet uses. All you have is that little device in your pocket, and you don't even know what it does.

"Affirmative! Operation 'Red Shirt' is a-go!" How the hell did that make any sense?

Following Ratchet into the rest of the temple, the door was sealed behind you. Traps had been laid out to protect the vessel.

You could hear Qwark from Ratchet's naphet. "Alright, the key to surviving situations like this is to avoid phrases like 'it's too quiet in here' or 'everything's going to be alright'."

"You know what, that actually made sense." Another phrase to avoid in the future would be "it couldn't possibly get anyone worse" because things can always get worse.

Avoiding the laser beams that threatened your lives, you stepped on a button that shut it off. "Got it," Ratchet said. "We're through." Then there were wheels with little statues that had rotating fire; they were still fairly easy to overcome. "Let's just hope this vessel is worth it."

Standing close to Ratchet, you listen to what Qwark had to say because it actually sounded important. "According to the chief, it's one of a kind, brought to this dimension by Orvus and trusted to the Fungoids."

"And he's sure it'll fix Aphelion?"

"He said it'll do a lot more than that. Zoni bioenergy is the most powerful resource in the omniverse."

"Hey Ratchet," You ask. "What-or who-is Aphelion?"

"She's our ship." He answered.

"Really? Can she seriously talk on her own?"

"Yep. Lombaxes before us used her."

**Ratchet's POV:**

You owe Kiari a few explanations. She doesn't remember anything about the Lombax, or what happened to them. Kiari may actually be an orphan, and not even know it, even though your father was the only one to stay behind when the Lombaxes left.

Kiari's going to be useful on the mission, and it's nice to have another Lombax around. Actually, it's just nice to have somebody around who's not Qwark. She'll need to practice using her weapon for long-distance and new armor, but for now, she can manage.

**Your POV:**

"Wow. Our race must have a lot of history."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Actually, I don't know any of it." You said with a smirk, getting past the final traps. There's a statue with a staff just like the chief's, and in the glow it emitted, was a strange container. Ratchet grabbed it, and two little Zoni floated down onto the ground.

Ratchet nabbed it with his wrench, and the Zoni was contained within the vessel.

Exiting the temple proved to be more difficult than entering. The traps had sped up, and you had to kick it into high-gear to avoid them. Fortunately, you awesome reflexes…at least that's what you thought.

"Ow, ow, ow! It burns!" You hadn't avoided the fire fast enough. On the left side of your parents, part of the fabric had turned to ash, and you had burned a bit of your ankle. The skin hurt was bright red.

"Are you alright?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah," You winced, rubbing the skin. It stung. A lot.

"I think I saw some Nanotech back in the village. We'll heal it once we get out of here."

You nodded, and thankfully, walking wasn't that much difficult. Today was obviously not your day.

Going back into another hallway, you spotted another Zoni. Regrouping with the chief, child, and Qwark, he seemed stunned to see you. "You survived…? I mean, you survived!"

The child (you think his name is Rex) laughs. "I told you they'd do it!" At least somebody is confident in you.

Alpheas seemed especially pleased. "Well done! The vessel is yours. Come, there is one more Zoni we put in the armory for safe keeping. Our guards discovered it wandering around the water front. It can help you repair your ship."

However, exiting the temple, there was some massive ship hovering in the sky…and there were people being annulated! Murderous robots were capturing citizens of the village, and the chief shouted, "Quick! Everyone inside the temple! Vorselon is coming!"

After that, the only sound was the screaming echoing in your ears. You stood ready with Ratchet, both of you (and Qwark) battle ready. "Alright Qwark, you ready to let those stallions out of the stable?"

Qwark grinned. "I was born ready!" However, he shrieked like a little girl and jumped into the chief's arms (and they both fell backwards) when a robot with his head in a case appeared behind you and shouted,

"Azimuth!" He circled around Ratchet, his arms crossed behind his back. If he tries to so much as lay a hand on Ratchet, you'll rip out his circuitry. Ratchet glared at him intensely while you held your wrench ready to defend yourself and your friend. "I believe Dr. Nefarious was clear as to the repercussions of leaving your hovel. The clock is _ours_."

Wait, _what_ did he call Ratchet?

"Wait…who?" Ratchet asked, before Qwark decided it would be a good time to be Qwark, and stepped in. A-hole.

"Dr. Nefarious has no authority here, villain. In fact, I'm not even entirely convinced he's a real doctor!" Ratchet rolled his eyes and shook his head while you thought about slamming the robot to the ground. ..and then going after Qwark. Even the robot (Vorselon?) seemed to be weirded-out by Qwark's behavior. "So return my sidekick's pal before I bring the thunder!" Obviously, the robot minion wasn't in the mood. He took out his weapon and zapped Qwark, sending him flying into the air in a blue bubble. "You win again, technology!"

Deciding that the robot was Vorselon, he ordered his minions to, "Kill the exile, and bring the rest in for questioning."

_Exile_

_Azimuth_

_Destruction to the people_

The words floated around in your head. You had defiantly seen this scenario before. It just seemed so…familiar. Your head started pounding. Reality started to fade and began cutting in and out. You felt light-headed.

All of a sudden, everything went black, and you heard someone calling your name.

**Ratchet's POV:**

You were doing well. You heard parts of robots hit the ground, and then…something else. Hearing a groan, you turned around and…

Kiari was flat on the ground! "Kiari!" You shouted, running towards her. Why is she unconscious? Her head isn't bleeding, and there's no way you wouldn't have heard it if she had been struck by a robot. Shaking her, she didn't wake up.

You picked her up and placed her on your back to have free rein of your hands. Why would she suddenly faint like that?

Following Alpheas into the armory, you acquired another Zoni while the chief opened the door. "In here, quickly! This is the last shred of technology in the entire village! I was always meaning to dismantle it, but now I'm glad I didn't! This teleporter will take you back to your ship. Follow me!" You headed up the stairs closed behind him. Pressing his staff to the machine once more, you found yourself back to where the ship had crashed.

You unleashed the Zoni to fix Aphelion. Muttering in a way where they sounded catatonic, they said, "We must repair the ship."

In blue light, Aphelion looked better than ever! Her wings were fixed, she was blue and grey, and there wasn't a scratch on her.

Thanking Alpheas one more time, you open the hatch and place Kiari in the seat next to you. Her head falls to the side. You look at her, and just hope she's okay.

**Your POV:**

_All you see is chaos. There are what look like giant robots, and…people with big ears being killed. Blood splatters across the ground. All you hear is screaming in panic, fear, and in pure agony. What's going on? What's happening? Where are you? _

_The vision is blurry…unclear…you can't see any of the people. All you see is red._

You groan, and force your eyes open. Your head is pounding. But…what was that you just saw? It was…horrifying.

"Kiari!"

Ratchet's sudden shouting startles you. "R-Ratchet." You say back. You groan again and hold your head in your hand. "What happened? And…oh my God, my head hurts."

"You…you just passed out, out of nowhere."

That's right, now you remember. Things were going fine, until you that…vision? Flashback? …Memory? What _was_ that? "Oh…anyway, what happened to Qwark?"

"Captured by the enemy. It's a search and rescue mission."

"Got it." Even though you really don't want to, Qwark is kinda your teammate.

"Qwark, come in. Do you read me?" Listening intently, you hear Qwark say, "It's good to hear your voice, Ratchet. They've got us in these containment cells and-they're coming with food! Oh, thank heaven. They're coming with…tap water? You _animals_!"

Ratchet rolls his eyes. "Would you just…listen to me? I need you to active the nav-beacon on your belt. Can you do that?" There's a little beep. "Good, now hang tight. We're on our way." Hanging up on Qwark, Ratchet looks at you with concern. "Hey Kiari, you gonna be alright?"

You smile and nod. "Yeah, I'll be fine, as soon as the asshole inside my head turns off his jackhammer." You said, rubbing your aching skull.

More than a few questions blazed in your head like wildfire. But there was one more so than others.

Who is Azimuth?

**Ignore the last solid black line above. I couldn't make it go away. **

**Anyway, that's the update for today. See you in Wonderland!**

**Bye for now!**

**~Mimi**


	5. Chapter V

**What I don't get is why Born This Way has more hits than Wonderland but only one review while Wonderland has about a 100 less hits and four reviews. Oh well. Born This Way is still my favorite (*is one for favoritism*).**

**Your POV:**

Now that you've been awake for a few minutes, your head has started pounding less. Within in a few minutes, your headache is gone and you and Ratchet are on the way to rescue Qwark and it's like nothing other than his capture happened. Deciding now isn't the proper time to examine the device in your pocket, you await orders.

Looking at the radar, straight ahead of your ship is Vorselon's warship, which appears as a red dot pulsing yellow.

"Warning," That was Aphelion. "Hostile ships detected. Point of origin appears to be the same as Captain Qwark's nav-beacon."

"Thanks Aphelion." You said, peering at the warship. It's massive-not as massive as the planets you see around here-but still massive. It's at least five or six times bigger than Aphelion.

True to her word, several attack ships ready to defend the main, and only after taking them all out did you have clear skies for a safe landing. Parking Aphelion on the wing of the ship, you and Ratchet headed out. It's defiantly not a friendly environment.

Taking a first few steps, Ratchet put on his weird looking mask. Before you could question what it was, he shushed you. "You don't have any armor. Don't breathe until we get inside. Actually, I think it would be better if you just stayed on the ship."

You shake your head wildly, a stern look on your face. Seeing as how you weren't going to breathe, Ratchet got in contact with Qwark at the same time as moving. "Qwark, we're at the ship. Where are they holding you?"

"I dunno…it's a big cell with some kind of containment field…oh, and it smells like my high school gym locker!"

"Alright. Maintain radio silence. I'll contact you when we're inside."

You stayed behind Ratchet the entire time, which means you didn't have to move or use up any oxygen saved in your lungs. You waited for the engines to stop roaring and then Ratchet disabled one. You had to get onto his back to transverse the ionized surfaces.

Once you're in, you take a deep breath and oxygen fills your lungs. "Okay, I feel better now." Good thing too, because your lungs were about to explode!

"Breach detected in star bullock airlock. Dispatching engineer."

Damn it.

Getting back on Ratchet's back to overcome the lasers, you heard over the intercom, "Attention troopers. We have just learned that the rebel Azimuth has escaped our troops once again! I have spoken with Dr. Nefarious and he has agreed to raise the bounty to 50, 000 bolts."

The engineer robot attacked with spinning blades, and with his attention focused on Ratchet, you were able to sneak up behind and thrash him.

"Nice one." Ratchet said approvingly. You only give a smile in response.

Taking the elevator, when the door opened, another robot was talking. "Fred? Is that you? Azimuth has escaped. You owe me five bolts." When he turned and saw it was you and Ratchet, he brought out the razorblades. "You are not Fred. Prepare to die."

After getting passed him, it was a lot of walking upside for Ratchet and you on his back until you came to the door to the next level. Happy to be off and being able to stretch your legs (and go pyscho on a bunch of robots) you ready your weapon and charge.

Robot parts just get _everywhere_!

**Ratchet's POV:**

She's…she's really doing well. Even after the security team was dispatched, you could tell she can hold her own in battle. You've got your own little group of robots, but you don't have to worry about Kiari, which is good. You're just hoping Qwark doesn't do something to get himself killed.

Getting rid of the security team, you see Kiari wrecking computers. "Kiari, what're you doing that for?"

"What's bad for him is good for us! And it's target practice!" Only, once again, it bounces off the side of the computer and whacks her in the head this time. "Ow…" She muttered, rubbing her forehead.

You laugh a little bit. "Be careful. Don't crack your skull open with that." You said before turning the winch and creating some platforms to travel across. It also summons more robots.

**Your POV:**

The rest of the day has been fun so far, even if you can't figure out who Azimuth is.

More robots wait for you before and after the platform hopping, and after that little stunt you just pulled (which did nothing good for your head) you've decided you will not be getting a pistol.

Waiting for the coast to be clear, Ratchet gets in contact with Qwark. "Qwark, give me a status update."

"This guy Vorselon means business! He says he'll kill us if we don't give up Allister Azimuth!"

"Who is Allister Azimuth?" Ratchet asked.

"Azimuth…" You muttered. Why does that name sound so familiar? Regardless, it's important. They seem to think that Ratchet is the Azimuth guy.

"I dunno, some rebel." Qwark said absentmindedly, obviously too concerned with his own life.

Flashing black to the first time you saw Vorselon, you remembered his words. _"Kill the exile, and bring in the rest for questioning."_

"Exile." You said quickly. Seeing the look on Ratchet's face, you explained, "Remember right before Qwark got captured? He called you Azimuth and referred to you as 'exile'."

Ratchet nodded. "Qwark, find out what you can. If he's an enemy of Nefarious, he might be a friend of us."

xXxXxXxXxXxX

After a lot more explosions, robot-destroying, and clinging on to the Ratchet while being upside, you come to an elevator. "What floor, please?"

Ratchet seems surprised to hear a voice besides yours and didn't know quite what to say. "Um…detention wing." He said it like a question. Regardless, the door closed behind you and the elevator headed downwards. "Wow, can't believe that worked." Ratchet said relieved.

"What was that?" The computer asked, seeming to believe he had changed his mind about his intended destination.

"Eh, nothing." Ratchet said quickly.

It was only a few more minutes before you came to the detention wing. Stepping out of the elevator, you were thankful that you were facing Vorselon's back and he couldn't see you. He was interrogating the Fungoids. "Insolent creature! Give me the location of the rebel Azimuth!"

"We don't know!" One of Fungoids yelled out in fear, sounding like he was about to cry. "And it wasn't the rebel Azimuth! It was just a couple of young Lombaxes!"

You listened closely, ready to strike and smack that guy down, but Ratchet (probably having seen the look of rage on your face) rested his hand on your shoulder. You took a deep breath to calm yourself down. "You're foolish to protect him. Guards! Throw them in the brick! If they haven't broken by the time we drove centers, inject them out the airlock!"

Growling to yourself as Vorselon disappeared, you turn the corner to find the cells. However, you don't find the welcome you were…quite hoping for. "It's the green one's sidekicks! We're saved!"

But the little boy is just adorable. "I knew you'd come for us!"

Qwark speaks. "It's good to see you two. Now we need to find a way out. What's-your-name, the child, hurl yourself against the laser wall as hard as you can."

"Qwark!" You snap. You look at the child. "Don't listen a word he says. Ratchet has more of an idea what he's doing."

The child nods, seemingly pleased that he didn't have to injure himself. "Hey Mister," He said to Ratchet (at least you hoped so!). "What about the versa fuse? If you pull it out, it might lower the field."

Staying close behind him, Ratchet pulled out the versa fuse and Qwark started to take credit for it all. Again. "We did it! Everyone follow me! I'll get us out of here!" He proceeded to literally kick down the door.

"Stay quiet. We don't want to set off the alarm."

As if on cue, the alarm flashed red and a voice called out. "Alert, alert, there is a code red in the detention wing."

"Damn it Qwark!" You growled, immediately pulling out your weapon and charging at the robots that attacked. You made sure that the prisoners stayed behind you, keeping a watchful eye and not letting the robots get passed you.

It became something short of an all-out war in the rebel detention block. Your arms were getting a bit tired from all of the smashing, but you figured you'd get used to it. Maybe there was a weapon shop around here or something. Hearing all of the smashing, crashing, and chucks of metal hitting the floor, you found yourself missing…something. There's a certain sound you miss. You can't remember the name of it, but you know you enjoyed it. There's a feeling of nostalgia in your heart. What is that?

The battle is getting tougher, since a lot of them are floating and it makes attacking them difficult for you. But a bit of (literally) bouncing off the walls and a bit of climbing on crates and you manage-but just barely.

Getting to a ship on the loading dock, Ratchet frees a few more Fungoids and Qwark loads them onto the ship. You looked around carefully for anyone that wasn't out of their cell yet.

"We'll open the doors!" Ratchet says. "You get the Fungoids to safety."

You don't know what to think of what Qwark says next. He sounds kinda like your…what? "Okay, anybody need to use the bathroom? I don't want to leave the loading bay and then hear one of you has to go!"

Clinging onto Ratchet one more time, you ascend and he turns the cinch and allows Qwark and the Fungoids to escape. Vorselon is furious and demands to know who let them escape. The computer sells you out. Again.

"Bio-scan indicates two Lombax life forms."

"Azimuth! And I see you've brought a friend. Welcome back." Who is Azimuth? You should know who he is, you get that much. From the information you've gathered, he's a Lombax living in exile. But why does Nefarious hate him so much? "I guess your old self told you to return. Computer, bring me my best x-suit. I'll handle this personally."

Ratchet doesn't waste any time getting in contact with help. "Aphelion, they've blocked our escape route. Meet us in the lower-deck landing bay." Aphelion complies, but she comes in all scratchy, so you can't exactly understand what she says.

Getting past another robot, you board the elevator. As soon as the doors open again, you come face to face once again with Vorselon. You stand ready. "Pitiful creatures! You've meddled in Dr. Nefarious' plans for the last time! Prepare to be killed by…wait for it…Lord Vorselon!" His words are followed by an evil laugh.

Okay, is this guy trying to be cool or something? Because he's not. He's just annoying. You just want to smack him around a bit.

He's actually more of a threat in battle, and with those mine-things he keeps dropping on the floor, you're very grateful for your reflexes and jumping skills. However, during the fight, he pays a lot of attention to Ratchet. He calls him Azimuth, and mocks his skills. So this Azimuth must be a good fighter, if "Azimuth" is taking it easy on Vorselon.

You jump onto his back from behind and begin whacking at him; only he shoots forward and disappears. You growl, looking around, and you just barely dodge his shot.

Finally, he goes down, his head separating from his body. Before he glides away, he…

"OW!"

That asshole just ripped out a piece of your fur! It wasn't a lot, but it still hurt like a bitch!

ASSHOLE!

He gets caught between the doors, shouting, "This is far from over, Lombaxes!" He turns and rockets away, the doors shutting close after he escapes.

You get a message from Qwark. "Ratchet, Kiari, great news! The chief says Allister Azimuth lives on Teorren Four in the Vola Sector! I'm uploading coordinates to your ship now. In the meantime, I'll stay with the Fungoids and find out what else they know about Azimuth. Qwark out."

"Wow," You grin. "He actually did something useful."

Heading out, you find Aphelion waiting for you, and you happily board her. You're just glad to be out of there. Your arms are killing you. You reach for the device in your pocket and slide the arrow to…do something to it. You can't understand it.

"Hey Kiari, what do you got there?" Ratchet asks, still keeping his eyes on the universe road ahead.

"I dunno. Found it in my pocket." From now on, you'll just leave it in the ship so it doesn't get damaged or anything. It is the only clue you have right now as to who you are.

"What does it say on the back?"

You raise an eyebrow. "The back?" You turn it over, and indeed, there's tape on the back with writing on it, but it's that language you don't understand. "I dunno. Must've been the language I used to speak."

"Hm." Things are quiet while you scroll through the little pictures on the screen, until Ratchet spots a ship. "Hey, there's a friend of mine, Smuggler. He probably has some armor we can buy off him."

"Ratchet, I don't want you spending a fortune on me." You say. Ratchet has done enough for you. You don't want to be any more of a burden to him than you already are.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, you having armor will make this easier on you and on my back." You laugh a little bit. "And armor isn't that expensive, weapons cost a lot more than armor does." You nod, and Ratchet gets in contact with the ship.

Smuggler is a green dude with a big hat and pointed ears. He's missing one of his yellow, narrow eyes and he has an eye patch where it used to be. He seems happy to see Ratchet. "Well, if it isn't Polaris' favorite Lombax. Now what's an upstanding citizen like yourself doing way out here in no man's land? And who's the little friend you got there?"

"Hey Smuggler, good to see you. This is Kiari, and actually, I was wondering if you had any armor for her."

"Son, I always got armor for a pretty gal like that. And for you, I sell it to ya cheap."

"Thanks Smuggler." Ratchet says with a smile.

"Anytime. You just transport me 100 bolts, and I'll send ya the armor." In a few minutes, there's a big box with armor waiting for you. You open it and the armor looks like Ratchet's but it's dark red and blue. You put it over your clothes. It feels great!

…There's a sliding noise and you fall flat on your face. You whimper and stand up, and find out that your feet did something where your feet are connected through metal and you're on wheels. "What-what I do?" You press the button on your ankle, and you can walk.

"You click your heels and you can go slide on rail tracks." Ratchet responds.

"Oh, I see. I should be careful." Obviously, you can't walk on a flat, stable surface and not find something to trip on. Do. Not. Click. Your. Heels. Damn. It. "Thanks for the armor, Ratchet. I promise, I'll pay you back at some point."

He smiles and nods. "Yeah, it's cool. So, you ready to find this Azimuth guy?" You nodded, playing with your little technology bit.

You press a little picture with a music note on it, and the little cables are wrapped around it start blasting something.

_It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M._

_Just put your paws up_

'_Cause you were born this way baby._

The feeling of nostalgia is gone. This was the sound you were missing! Well, not the song exactly, but…music! This lady is really catchy too.

"What is that?" Ratchet asks.

"I don't know, but she's cool." You plug the big ends of the cables into your ears, and you can't hear a word Ratchet says. "What?" You ask, taking them out.

"I said, be careful not to damage your hearing."

"Meh, meh, I'll be fine."

**Wow, why is this not getting any new reviews? Is there something you'd like to see in this story? Just let me knew through PM or review. I promise, it will get better and much more dramatic, you just need to wait. By the way, just so everyone knows, the writing is in English and I know Ratchet and the other people in the game series speak it but they don't read or write it.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	6. Chapter VI

**Here's the next chapter of Born This Way! The review made me LOL so hard, no joke. This chapter is for ImplodingInsanely, because she (I'm assuming they're a she) is awesome. By the way, why the hell didn't anybody tell me I was spelling Alister wrong? It only has one "l"! And now I feel like an idiot. Oh well. Time to start the chapter!**

**Your POV:**

Torren IV is really…desert-y. There's not much life around here. But regardless, you want to find out who Azimuth is. You fainted shortly after hearing his name, and you want to know why. Ratchet gets in contact with Qwark. "Qwark, come in. We just landed on Torren IV. Did the Fungoids know where we can find Azimuth?"

"Chief, eh…Something-Something says he supposedly lives in the ruins of Volgram Pass."

"Volgram Pass? Alright, maybe someone around here can point us in the right direction. See what else you can find. I'll be in touch."

"Roger that. Qwark out."

Even just moving around kicks up dust. How could anyone live out here? You'd go so bored, without anywhere to skate or swim or do something entertaining. After doing a bit of climbing, you see more of the landscape, and it…it looks like a warzone. Everything just looks…destroyed. There's broken metal everywhere, and objects in the distance look like death traps.

Using your wrenches, you ascended on top of platforms, until you hear a startled voice, yelling about outsiders. Seeing as how he's the only person around (and may be the only one around for miles), you ask him. "Excuse me, can you help us?" You ask.

"Greetings, outsiders!" His voice is raspy, and sounds old, like his voice box is damaged. "What brings you to Molonoth?" He looks old too, like he hasn't been upgraded since…he hasn't been upgraded.

"We need directions to Volgram Pass." You said calmly, trying to keep your nerves together. It's too bad you're not having that much luck with that.

The robot seems to be a bit startled. "Volgram Pass? Surely peaceful adventurers such as yourselves have no business in such a dangerous place. But, if you insist, it is just beyond the Hollow to the east. Ask the guardian for entry."

You smile and nod. "Thank you." You use the catapult to soar through the air, which gives you a real head rush! You love it.

**Ratchet's POV:**

Kiari's being really quiet. You wonder if she's worried or upset about something. She usually doesn't stop talking, but in the past couple of hours (even on the ride over here) she's barely said a word. You wonder why that is.

**(FAST FORWARD, BECAUSE I DON'T THINK ANYBODY CARES ABOUT ALL THE HOPPING AROUND FOR FIVE PARAGRAPHS)**

**Your POV:**

After walking and jumping around for what seemed like hours on end, you come to something that seems so out of the universe! It's a giant robot head! It's actually kind of cool! Only…it does not look happy to see you. Or he. Defiantly sounds male. Must have male programming. He lets out a loud yell of angry. "Halt, outsiders!" He's got the same raspy voice that the robot before did. He looks just as rusty and broken too. "What business have you in the Hollow?"

"We're looking for Volgram pass." Ratchet replies.

"Hmm…" The robot head knows what you're talking about. "Volgram pass…where the exile dwells?"

You nodded. "That's him. We need to speak to him immediately."

The robot looks at you questioningly (you can't blame him, you're outsiders, he's only trying to do his job) but he says, "It is beyond this Hollow, but we do not grant entry to outsiders. They must find it for themselves."

You give a bow and a thank you, and walk away, not wanting to overstay your welcome and anger him anymore than you already have with your mere presence. You get a message from Qwark. "Ratchet, come in. One of the Fungoids just told me about a brutal race of warriors who apparently hate Nefarious. They're called Agorians. I'm heading over there now to talk to 'em."

"Qwark, I don't think that's such a good idea." Ratchet replies hesitantly.

"Normally, I'd agree with you, but the Fungoids insist that I leave as soon as possible." …That went completely over his head, didn't it? Still, you don't like the idea of Qwark going to meet a warrior race. It just doesn't seem safe. And it's _Qwark_. "They even paid the Agorians to come pick me up!" Are they that desperate to get rid of him? "Isn't that nice? I'll keep you posted. Qwark out."

You only shake your head in response and follow Ratchet up the catapult. You're very thankful for your new armor, before you need to descend using a grind rail. It feels cool! You lean forward to get a little more speed, but you're careful to avoid both the traps and from bumping into Ratchet. It's only a few minutes before you come across another robot.

Again, he's old and rusty with that somewhat creepy voice. This place must be ancient; the robots and the technology are several out-of-date and old. "Welcome, outsiders. I apologize for the ruse, but we like to keep our operation away from the prying eyes of galactic authorities. Come. You have proven yourselves worthy." You nod, and follow close behind Ratchet. "Volgram Pass is just on the other side of the Hollow, but you must be aware there is a dangerous exile there."

You nodded again. "Yes, we know. He's actually the reason why we're here. We need to speak with him." You explain.

"What did he do?" Ratchet asked. Yes, what did he do? He's an exile. Whatever he did, it must've been pretty bad.

"Oh, he's attacked Vorselon and Nefarious, blowing up their property and defeating them in battle. The usual stuff." This guy defeated Nefarious? You've never seen or met him before, but from Ratchet's stories, he sounds dangerous.

However, coming into the Hollow, it's total chaos. Another robot explains the situation. "The battery bots are revolting! All systems are offline!"

"What? Call the home office. Tell them we have a code 11-13!" He turns to you and Ratchet. "Sorry, outsiders, but without power access to Volgram Pass is impossible. I guess you're out of luck."

You shake your head. "No way. Ratchet and I will you get this place up and running." You turn to your teammate and friend. "Ratchet, you go this way and find any battery bots and plug them back in. I'll go left and do the same."

He nods once. "Got it."

It's hazardous and dangerous getting those battery bots and plugging them. There's fire, saw blades, and other machinery to avoid. Fortunately, you manage to get everything back online, and you meet up with Ratchet. Following him, you avoid a few more hazards before coming to a catapult and being shot into the air.

There are a few rogue robots wanting to destroy you (as usual, it won't be an ordinary day without that), but you can handle it. The robots are old and tired anyway. You feel excited. You get to meet this Alister guy, and find out if he's going to help you or not.

Looking up, you see someone standing on top of a building…or something. You tap Ratchet on the shoulder and point up at him. He smiles and calls out, "Excuse me! Um, hi. Do you know where we can find Alister Azimuth?"

There's no response for a few seconds, but then he throws…something up in the air. It splits into four…sparks…it's a _bomb_! "Uh oh." Ratchet says, thrashing it away with his wrench. To avoid the backlash, you jump from the cliff and skate on the rails, close behind Ratchet.

"You've lost the element of surprise! Killing me won't be so easy." What the fuck is this guy's problem? Where the hell did he get the idea that you wanted to kill him?

"We just want to talk to you!" Ratchet explains, though it is in vain.

"Lies!" He shouts. "You're here to assonate me! Who sent you? Vorselon? Nefarious? It figures they'd send a spy rather than confront me themselves!"

"Excuse me asshole," You shout back, sick of this guy throwing bombs at you. "But Nefarious and Vorselon are the enemy! We want your help!"

"Look at us, we're Lombaxes!"

"The Lombaxes are gone! And I know a Holo-Guise when I see one!"

Ratchet rolls his eyes. "Can you stop trying to kill us for two seconds so we can talk?"

"You're starting to annoy me!"

You growl, lean forward to get a little more speed to keep up, and shout, "And you've been pissing me off!"

This guy wants to make your day hell by killing you. You then wonder if this Alister guy is really worth knowing if it means this-no. No, you need to know who Alister is. If he can help find Clank, then you need to put up with this and just try to stay alive until you get the information you end.

When the rails come to an end, you and Ratchet catapult (and Ratchet actually summersaults) onto the platform. You try to catch your breath and look around for the asshole bombing you. You turned around for a split second and hear a smash. That douchebag pinned him to the wall from the neck. "Let go of him!" You snap, attacking from behind.

Only he grabs you by the shoulder and lifts you up. You struggle and try to kick him, but it's no use. "Now I've got you!" He growled at Ratchet. However, you feel his grip loosen up immediately. "It can't be…you're…you're Kaden's son." What? He looks at you. He doesn't look angry. He looks surprised…dumbfounded, actually. "And Keyla's daughter." _What_? He releases you both and gets down on one knee. Ratchet rubs his sore shoulder, where it connects to his neck. "Forgive me. General Alister Azimuth. Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. Elder Councilman for the Center for Advanced Lombax Research." He looks at you and Ratchet with a proud smile. "And you, my dear boy, look just like your father, and you, just like your mother…" He looks more closely at you. "Except…you have your father's eyes."

**(FAST FORWARD, VERY BRIEF)**

You're in Alister's little home now, both you and Ratchet examining a locket. One side has a picture of a younger Alister and Ratchet's father, Kaden. The other side has a picture of a female Lombax. She's defiantly your mother. You do look just like her. She's got the same bright blonde that you have, and you're built just like her. You smile at Alister. "What was my mother like? And how did you know her?"

Alister smiles. "Your mother was a fierce and loyal Lombax. Very strong-willed, though she didn't really know how to sit still." He said with a laugh. "And she was…a very close friend of mine. I knew her almost all my life. I still miss her terribly."

**Alister's POV:**

Is it really her?

**Your POV:**

So…your mother's dead. You sigh. "What about my father?" You ask.

He shakes his head. "He died with her. But he was a great man, did many incredible things in his time. You should be very proud of both your parents. They both died fighting to save you." You only nodded in response.

Ratchet didn't seem to be able to make up his mind about what he wanted to ask. "I have so many questions. How did you know him?"

"Kaden and I were good friends. He was a great Lombax, smart as they come. He was the first outsider to theorize that the Great Clock even existed."

"And this 'clock'...you think Clank's in there?"

"Clock is a rather crude translation of the runes on Quantos." He reaches into a trunk that's up against the wall. "Specially, they say 'Keeper of Time'. But yes, I suspect he is."

Oh no. There's that throbbing pain in your head again. No, no, no. Not again. Fight it. Your mother fought, so can you. Fight, fight, fight. The conversation starts to blur as your head begins to pound. Oh. Shit.

You hit the cold metal ground with a loud "bang".

**Alright, now that I've updated both stories, I now need to go work on homework. I've midterms this week, and I need to make sure I'm ready.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	7. Chapter VII

**After seeing a review from MrBlack103 and seeing more from Wonderland, I decided to update again. As you've probably figured out, I'll be doing most (more likely all) of my updating during the weekend, and possibly during the week when midterms (or "midyear assessments") are over.**

**Your POV:**

_Screaming_

_Shouting_

_Missiles_

_Explosions_

_Giant robots_

_At first, the people being brutally murdered are unclear, but after a few seconds, they come into focus. The people are Lombaxes, they're screaming and running, trying to get to safety…but instead, there's just being blood splattered everywhere. People die. Bodies are lying on the ground. The sight is…horrifying._

You groan. You're up against the cold wall. Looking around, you don't see Ratchet or Alister. God, your headache is even worse than last time. You feel like an alcoholic would after a night of bar hopping. You stand, stumble a bit with the sudden pounding in your forehead, but you shake it off. You hear some shouting and a cheerful cry, and you look out the window to see Alister and Ratchet hovering around. You smile.

Looking on the counter, you see a pair of boots and…what looks like a rather crude drawing of you. Ratchet must've remembered you can't read, so he left you a note with a drawing of you. You smile, and you make sure to thank him later.

They're just big enough to slip over your armor on your feet, only… You raise an eyebrow. "How do you work these things?"

**Ratchet's POV:**

Kiari fainted again, and making sure she didn't hurt her head too bad or anything, you put her up against the wall. Alister's teaching you how to use your father's hoverboots, and he left his spare pair on the counter for Kiari. You explained that she had amnesia from a crash and she didn't know how to read or write, so you just drew a picture of her on a piece of paper. Although, it was pretty bad…

"Hold on a second," You said. "I just want to go check on Kiari, and see how she's doing."

Alister nodded, but before you could make a move, you heard screaming and you look up to see…Kiari flying through the air. Only she has no idea what she's doing, and her limbs are flying everywhere. "How do you control these things!" She shouts.

"Just relax your limbs!" You shout back, but she doesn't hear. Instead, she crashes back first into a rock and falls to the ground. "Kiari!" You and Alister shout and run over to her.

She's…she's lying on her stomach? Is she okay? She…she doesn't look like she's breathing. You shake her gently. "Kiari…?"

She shoots up and starts yelling. "Ew, ew, ew, dirt tastes nasty! And…ow…" She rubs her head.

You laugh, though mostly out of relief. She's fine. "Are you alright?" You ask, though you really don't have to. You wonder just how much brain damage she can take…though you really don't want to find out for the sake of her safety. She nods and you help her up. She seems…better now. More like herself. That's good.

**Alister's POV:**

She really is just like her mother. She defiantly has her thick skull. Keyla would always crash into a wall or rock, and just yell about how much pain she was in. She was always silly, carefree, and happy with that upbeat attitude. You look at Kiari, and all you see is Keyla.

You knew that woman for so many years. She was your best friend, your closet companion, and teammate. You were devastated when you lost her. When she died…she lost that light in her eyes. It was your fault that light finally diminished.

Only, now is your chance to get back Kiari's family. You can make things right…for the woman you loved.

**Your POV:**

That did not help your pounding headache, that's for sure! But…that's the second time you've seen a vision like that…or at least…you think it's a vision. It's certainly not a memory…or maybe it is. Or whatever! You'll think about it later. You've got more prominent issues at hand. Like how to not kill yourself on these…things. "I have no idea how to use these things." You said.

"Obviously." Ratchet said with a small smile. You only stick your tongue out in response.

Alister shakes his head. "Just relax, and lean forward just slightly." You nod, and do so. Hey, it's easy! Soon, you're floating around like a boss. "Much better. You can keep those, you're going to need them."

You smile. "Thanks Alister."

"How do you feel?" Ratchet asks. You can't tell him what he saw. No, you'll only tell if you absolutely need to.

You shrug. "I'll feel better once the migraine goes away, but other than that I'm fine." You're just a tiny bit disturbed about all that blood you saw (you've never seen it before, you're used to only killing robots) but really, you're fine. You tell yourself to get used to it.

Ratchet nods and looks to Alister. "So what now? We storm Nefarious' stronghold? Force him to tell us where the clock is, huh?" He makes this face that's…just kind of funny, really. He looks confident, though.

Alister shook his head. "Nefarious would be foolish to reveal that information to us, no matter what we do to him." What are they talking about? You hate being out of the loop. "But we have an advantage I did not have before…a contact inside the clock." He presses the large yellow button on his uniform, and turns away.

"Clank?" Ratchet asks with a raised eyebrow. "How are we gonna talk to him?" Seeing Alister walk away, Ratchet points to in the direction of the Aphelion. "General, my ship's this way."

He turns back to you, and with a smirk and his arms crossed over his chest, he says, "No thanks. I brought my own." His ship appears behind him, and it's sick! In a good way. No, seriously, it's awesome. It looks like Aphelion, actually. He hoverboots and flips into the seat and shouts, "Meet me in Axiom City, planet Terachnos!"

"What are we looking for in Axiom City?" Ratchet shouts back.

"A way to talk to Clank!" Alister replies before the ship's hatch closes and he zooms off.

He turns back to you. "So…ready to go?"

You nod. "Always!"

**(Fast Forward)**

Sitting next to Ratchet you say, "You know, you should show me how to pilot Aphelion."

He laughs. "What, and you let you crash her?"

You scoff. "I wouldn't crash her!"

"After you crashed yourself into a rock on hoverboots, I wouldn't be so sure."

You stick your tongue in response before grabbing your music player off the dashboard. Before you can start jamming out, Ratchet asks, "Hey Kiari, is everything alright?"

You're surprised at his question. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "Well, you were just being really quiet earlier, and you keep fainting and everything…"

Ugh, you knew that would worry him. For his sake, you just hope it doesn't happen again. Not to mention, the bloody battle scene is awful to watch. You still don't know what's going, but you can't ask Ratchet or Alister. You need to figure this out on your own. "Yeah. I guess I was just anxious to meet Alister. I mean… I can't believe he knew my mom!" You say with a smile. "And my dad too. I should get my father's name once we reach Axiom City. I forgot to ask him." You scroll through the icons on the screen, and you press on. They're…pictures. There are always girls and a boy. You…don't know what their species are. They don't have fur or tails or big ears and they're not robots either…you don't know what they are. You go back before Ratchet can see them.

You stare out into space. Suddenly you remember Qwark. You wonder how he's doing. Meh, you'll check in with later. Right now, you just want to rest your aching head.

**Okay, so that's that. We're on to chapter eight now. I'll see you next weekend, when midterms are half over! Although, I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in myself. Chapters have gone back to be really short. Oh well. They'll get better.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	8. Chapter VIII

**Again, I said I wouldn't update again until this weekend, but…it's about four in the morning and I have nothing else to do. I go to school in about two hours. So, here's the new chapter of Born This Way! Yay for you.**

**Your POV:**

_So we back in the club _

_Get that bodies rockin' from side to side (side to side) _

_Thank God the week is done _

_I feel like a zombie gone back to life (back to life) _

_Hands up, and suddenly we all got our hands up _

_No control of my body _

_Ain't I seen you before' _

_I think I remember those eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes _

_Cause baby tonight, the DJ Got Us Falling In Love again _

_Yeah, baby tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again _

_So dance, dance, like it's the last, last night of your life, life_

You hear Ratchet say something, so you take your headphones out, and ask him to repeat himself. "I said you've got a nice voice."

You smile. "Thanks, I love this song."

"Yeah, I can tell. That's the fifth time you've listened to it."

You stick your tongue out in response, getting a small laugh out of Ratchet in response. You know, it's nice to see Ratchet laugh. He's been through a lot, you can tell, and he's your friend. He's got a lot on his mind, and it's good to see him happy. You wonder just what he's done in the past few years. Hell, you wonder what you've done! You'll ask later, save the questions for a long trip.

You see Axiom City, and it's bright and blue. There are spotlights, and lights with words on them that you can't understand. Note to self: learn to read and write. The buildings touch the sky, and the walkways are brightly lit. You follow Ratchet out of the ship. "General come in. We just landed in Axiom City. Where are you?"

"I'm afraid I've run into a bit of trouble. We need to make a slight adjustment to our plan."

"What…kind of adjustment?"

Over your heads, a female voice can be heard all over the city. And once again, she just made your lives just a bit more difficult. "Attention citizens, the rogue Lombax Alister Azimuth has been spotted within city limits. Troopers have been mobilized for your protection."

"Of course." You mutter.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. Just get to Neurox Plaza and wait for me to make contact."

"Got it." You said quickly. This place seems to only have one race. They look kind of like squids, except with four legs. And they seem a bit stuck-up too.

Especially this one. You asked him about Alister, but before you can even get a word in edge-wise, you just barely made eye contact before he went off saying, "Another Lombax? Typical!" You don't appreciate he's talking to you like you're a delinquent. "Who do you think you are, hoverbooting over everything in sight like it's your own personal playground?"

"Hey," You snap. "How about you just tell us where the other Lombax went, and we'll leave, alright?" You glare, but the guy doesn't seem to back down.

"You mean the criminal the authorities are looking for? He headed towards the spaceport, hoverbooting off these transports like a vandal!"

"With how stuck up you assholes are, I think you uptight douchebags could use a vandal." You growled. "And he's not a criminal, he's our friend." You turn around with Ratchet next to you. However, now that you've cooled down, you feel a bit bad. "Hm…maybe I overreacted."

Ratchet shakes his head. "Nah. That guy's a jerk, don't worry about it."

**Ratchet's POV:**

You didn't even think Kiari could get angry. But she said those things to defend her friend. Even she's a bit immature and has a bad temper, she's a good person and a good friend.

You come across more people, and the first guy doesn't seem too happy to see you either. "More Lombaxes! Come back to vandalize more equipment?"

"Mind your manners." The one next to him said. He had really bushy eyebrows and big glasses. "Any superintelligent being can see that this is a different Lombax." He turns his attention to you. "My colleague is just upset about the rebel, Azimuth, destroying the terminal. The fire fight triggered Axiom's defensive grid and now the entire city is closed off. Maybe you can help."

The other guy doesn't seem so sure. "What are they going to do? Fly over the grid and active the reboot switches? Ha! I'd love to see that."

**Your POV:**

Looking up at the transports, you give a smile. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"You got this, Kiari?" Ratchet asks. You nodded. "Are you sure?"

You roll your eyes. "Ratchet, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. God," You mutter, turning on your hoverboots and floating away. "You crash into a rock on hoverboots one time, and he gets all concerned." Now he looks a bit embarrassed.

You use the transports to rocket over the grid, and pull the switch with your wrench. The grid immediately powers down, and the two braniacs seemed very grateful-well, at least the one did. "You did it! The system is resetting!"

Then the female voice goes off again. "Alert. Alert. Lombaxes detected near avionics near terminal nine. Dispatching units."

_Bring it, bitch!_

They scurry off into a safe corner, one grumbling about how the last thing they needed was more violence. Jeez, these guys need to get out more, or at least get out of their labs. Violence is totally the best way to solve your problems! It certainly makes you feel better.

Soon enough, more killer robots appear, attempting to take you out…and they fail. After a bit of destruction and a lot of violence, there's the sound of heavy metal hitting the ground. It's…become a normal sound to you. You haven't gone a day without hearing all that noise.

After the robots are gone, the nice guy scurries off with his coworker to the wall and starts to mess with a device. "I could get into a lot of trouble for this, but I'm tired of Nefarious and his troops. Let's see if I can activate this transport tube now that the lockdown's over." The tube opens up, and there's a bright blue. "Here you go! This ought to take you right to Neurox Plaza!"

"Transport tube activated."

You give a smile. "Thanks."

"No my dear, thank you for all your help!"

"Lombax lover." His friend mutters.

"Oh, shut up."

You shake your head in an amused manner and follow Ratchet down the tube.

Getting to the Plaza, it's a danger zone. More robots are waiting for you, and after you've cleared them out, Alister gets in contact with you. "Ratchet, Kiari, come in. I'm in position, but Pollyx has set up security around the entire area."

"But Pollyx isn't a robot. Why would he help Nefarious?" Ratchet asked. From Ratchet's stories, you've learned that Nefarious is a robot dedicator who hates all organic life. In the past, he's tried to turn everybody in robots but obviously he was stopped.

"Probably for the same reason Vorselon is: to use the clock for their own personal gain."

"Why do I get the feeling this clock does more than just tell time?"

"Because it moves time as its caretaker sees fit. Its' control room is called the Orvus Chamber. I don't even want to think about what Nefarious would do if he was able to control time. I have to go. Call me as soon as you reach Neurox Plaza."

Talking to Alister, you feel…odd. Not bad, really, but not good either. Not suspicious…but you do have some questions. One of them is your father's name, but thinking back on the previous planets, you remember something: both of the previous times you've fainted, Alister has been mentioned or he's been around. You're starting to think that Alister is the one triggering it. But how is that possible? What connection could you have with someone you've never met?

And just what did Alister do to get exiled? Ratchet's father and himself were the only ones to stay behind when the Lombaxes left. Why did Alister stay behind? Maybe he rebelled against a decision that the Lombaxes made, and tried to do something about it. That would've made him a criminal. But there's only one way to know for sure: you need to ask him yourself.

**If you actually get the connection between the song, and the noise the robots make, you get a cookie and a chapter dedication. However…I should realize that this is , not my English class. Speaking of class, I thank God for the bad weather, since it got me a 2-hour delay and allowed me to finish this chapter!**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	9. Chapter IX

**Here's the new chapter of Born This Way! Thank God it's the weekend. I can now do whatever I want. When I get up tomorrow, I'm heading right for my PS3 and Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One. Well, without further delay, let's start.**

**Your POV:**

You and Ratchet made your way over to the Plaza, and you spotted Azimuth. "Azimuth!" You would ask what your father's name was, but right now, it doesn't seem like it's the right time. Only a few seconds later, more robots are sent your way…and one grabs you by the back of your neck. You try to get away, but it's no use. The spinning blade comes dangerously close your neck…

And then there's a loud crash, and your feet hit the ground. You smile. "Thanks Ratchet, I owe one…again." You said sheepishly.

Alister comes over to you. "Are you both alright?" He asks. When you nodded, he turned away. "Pollyx diverted all traffic away from the building. We'll have to find another point of entry. Come, I have someone on the inside who may be able to help us."

"Someone who works for Nefarious?" Ratchet asked. What's Nefarious' deal with organic life anyway? Seriously, what did living things ever do to him?

Alister shook his head. "Actually, he's a data miner at Pollyx Industries. I saved him from becoming food for the Agorians." Agorians? Hm…where have you heard that name before? You know you have somewhere, it's right there on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't remember where or when. It was defiantly recently though.

Azimuth goes over to some device attached on the wall and presses a few buttons. Within moments, a full-scale image of one of those squid-things appears. And like the rest, he doesn't look too happy. "Azimuth? What are you doing on this frequency-the entire city is looking for you!" Wow, seriously? Whatever Azimuth did, it must've been pretty bad.

"I'm here to cash in on that favor, Jarvis. We need a way inside Pollyx industries."

"I knew one day you'd make me an accomplice to terrorism! I'll run a diagnostic on the security system-_in the meantime_, you'd better take cover. Another security team is closing in!"

Just as Jarvis said, more robots arrived. You were really starting to hate this Nefarious guy.

**(Fast Forward)**

You're standing next to the projection of Jarvis, your eyes following Ratchet as he zooms all over the place on hoverboots to activate switches. You would help him, but this is really more of a one-person job and Ratchet can do it by himself anyway. Although, you feel weird just standing there. You're already used to go-go-smash-destroy robots-go some more. You sigh, feeling bored and…a bit useless.

Finally, after what seems like forever, Ratchet runs over the last switch and turns it green. You can proceed. Jarvis seems happy. "You did it! Conduit is ionized. You should be able to slingshot over the plaza and into Pollyx industries."

You meet up with Alister and Ratchet at the top of the conduit. Jarvis talked him through the rest of the security. You look out toward the slingshot. "This is it. Our only way into the building…last chance to back out."

Ratchet smirks. "Age before beauty, General."

Alister laughs in response. "Wiseguy! Just like your father. And Kiari, what about you?"

"And do what, stand here until an alarm goes off?"

"You are most certainly your mother's daughter."

Following them in, you can't help but look at Azimuth. He knew your mother really well…and he seems to miss her a lot, and Ratchet's dad too. It…must be really awkward for him, to be working alongside you and Ratchet instead of your mother and his father. They must've been really close. You wonder if you had anything like that. Alister's really got you thinking lately. Is that good or bad?

Once you reach the building, an alarm almost immediately goes. Nothing can ever be simple, can it? "Attention. A bioscan reveals three Lombaxes in main server room. Mobilizing all units."

"Oh, fuck." You mutter. Oh well, at least it's good exercise.

"Blasted bioscans." Alister cursed. "You take the left, I'll cover the right."

**(Fast Forward)**

Alister smashes through the floor, and you jump in after him and Ratchet and land in a computer room. Some people turn their heads to look at you, and a robot goes for the security button to alert others…only Alister destroys it. Ha ha.

Ratchet goes to interrogate one of those dorks on a computer. However, said dork pushes Ratchet out of his face. Ratchet actually listens until the guy is finished talking… "If you intend to manhandle me, I'll have you know I am a level 60 wizard," He actually looks proud of that, wow. "With melee ability!" …And then Ratchet whacks at him, and he spins out of control and falls onto the ground. "That hurt my pride! Ow…and my solar plexus…"

You only roll your eyes in response and stay next to Ratchet. Alister goes to the computer. "It looks like there's an Obsidian Eye somewhere in Krell Canyon…I…can't lock on any closer."

On the giant computer screen above, a…there's a robot there. He flicked onto the screen. He's purple, mostly, with hints of silver but he's got a giant green dome head. What the hell-who is he? He looks directly at Ratchet. "Greetings, my old friend! Been a long time. I'm thrilled you're here to witness my greatest triumph!" The screen zooms in on his eyes. "And look, you've met the elder. Pity one of the first Lombaxes you meet is the shame…of his entire race!"

You growl in response. "Don't you talk about him like! I'll turn you into scrap metal!" You immediately shout. That man was your mother's best friend-you had history with him before you were born!

The robot only laughs at you in response. "Oh, the first Lombax you met was the _product_ of shame." You raise an eyebrow. Product of shame? Were your parents not married when they had you or something? What does he mean by…product of shame?

You're about to shatter the TV into little pieces, and Ratchet notices. He puts his hand on your shoulder. "So what is it this time Nefarious? You still trying to turn everyone into robots, or is it just good old-fashioned galactic domination?"

"Part of me wants to let you live long enough to find out-the other part, really wants to kill you." Oh hell no. This asshole is gonna shatter like glass instead of metal if he so much as lays a hand on Ratchet and you'll destroy him-wait, that's Nefarious! "You know, for old time's sake. Decisions, decisions, decisions." The screen goes to that writing you can't understand, probably saying there's some type of error in the system.

An alarm goes off. "Attention. VX-99 detected. Evacuate all stations."

Ratchet gives a small smile. "Well, at least we know what he went with."

**(Fast Forward)**

Getting back outside, you see there's a giant robot attacking the city! It looks kind of like a giant green light bulb-defiantly Nefarious' design.

Alister stood to you and Ratchet. "That thing will level the entire city just to get to us. I'll cover you from the air. Just find a way to stall it."

"Stall it! It's the size of a building!" Ratchet shouted.

**Yeah, I really need to start moving this story along, wow. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. See you then!**

**Bye for now!**

**~Mimi**


	10. Chapter X

**This chapter is for lombaxkitti because she's cool! And what she said about my story totally made my day. C: Thank you lombaxkitti and this chapter is for you! And just so everyone else knows, I love the support I get! Thank you.**

**Your POV:**

You watch Ratchet zip around on the machine, avoiding lasers and removing bolts to get rid of the tentacles and cripple it. You bite your lip. It's too dangerous to have two people up there, especially with how clumsy you are. If you're not careful, you could fall right off the edge...so you're stuck on the ground, once again unable to help him. But he's a big boy, he can take care of himself. Really. There's no need to worry.

…So why are you worrying?

…

You're stupid.

To prove that you're stupid and worrying over nothing, he takes out the last leg and he's flown backwards to your position. Alister flies over in his ship, and Ratchet holds out his hand. "Milady?" He asks. You roll your eyes and hop onto his back. He hookshots onto Alister's ship and you finally join him in the battle.

You start cracking the glass, jumping over lasers and hitting it with everything you've got. You don't let up. "You're both doing great!" Alister shouts through communication. "Remember, reward over consequence. You can do this!"

Ratchet creates another crack, and like the others, it climbs up to nearly the top. "We're all clear, General!"

"I'm locking on now!" Alister responds, and he starts blasting. In an explosion, the dome shatters and pieces of green glass fly. The fire is not happy, and it's spitting and hissing. "The dome is off! Take it out!"

And the robot that was inside the dome? Yeah, it's not happy. At all. In fact, it looks purely pissed off. And it doesn't stop shooting at you. The battle defiantly isn't easy for you. You have to get close up, and there aren't any walls you can use to your advantage. Shame, because bouncing off the walls is fun!

It gets a bit tougher when it projects a laser wall, and you had to jump over the lasers that go through it so they don't cut you in half. You're in front so you can attack, and Ratchet's shooting at it from behind you above your head.

Finally, the thing explodes, and it blows up good! There's a series of explosions, and sparks are flying. Explosions are cool. Alister shouts out, "You did it! Now come on! Latch onto my ship! When that torrent explodes, it'll rupture the entire core!"

Alister rides up to your position in his ship, and you and Ratchet don't waste any time getting away. The now-destroyed machine goes boom-boom-boom and fire rains from the sky. You just hope nobody got hurt. Alister takes you back to Aphelion, you and Ratchet shouting the whole way over there. "You did pretty good back there. I'm heading off to refuel. Next stop, planet Lumos, home of tetramites and some of the best hoverbooting spots you'll ever see."

Ratchet smiles as you jump into Aphelion. "Copy that. See you there."

You take off, and you wave goodbye to the city. You place your music player in the socket after taking it off the dashboard, and Aphelion reads it. After a few seconds, a song plays. And it's…awesome.

_Hey Lucy, I remember your name._

_I left a dozen roses on your grave today._

_I'm in the grass on my knees,_

_Wipe the leaves away._

_I just came to talk for a while._

_I got some things I need to say._

_Now that it's over,_

_I just wanna hold her._

_I'd give up all the world to_

_See that little piece of_

_Heaven looking_

_Back at me_

_Now that it's over,_

_I just wanna hold her._

_I've gotta live with the choices I made,_

_And I can't live with myself today._

_Hey Lucy, I remembered your birthday,_

_They said it'd bring some closure to say your name._

_I know I'd do it all different…_

_If I had the chance,_

_But all I got are these roses to give,_

_And they can't help me make amends._

_Now that it's over,_

_I just wanna hold her._

_I'd give up all the world to_

_See that little piece of_

_Heaven looking_

_Back at me._

_Now that it's over,_

_I just wanna hold her._

_I've gotta live with the choices I made,_

_And I can't live with myself today._

_Here we are_

_Now you're in my arms_

_I never wanted anything so bad_

_Here we are_

_For a brand new start_

_Living the life that we could've had_

_Me and Lucy walking hand in hand_

_Me and Lucy never wanna end_

_Just another moment in your eyes_

_I'll see you in another life_

_In heaven where we never say goodbye_

_Now that's it over,_

_I just wanna hold her._

_I'd give up all the world to see_

_That little piece of heaven looking back at me._

_I've gotta live with the choices I made,_

_And I can't live with myself today._

_Here we are, now you're in my arms_

_Here we are for a brand new start_

_Got to live with the choices I've made_

_And I can't live with myself today_

_Me and Lucy walking hand in hand_

_Me and Lucy never wanna end_

_Got to live with the choices I've made,_

_And I can't live with myself today._

_Hey Lucy, I remember your name._

That song…it sounds so…familiar. The tone, the instruments…the lyrics. Ha, before you crashed and met Ratchet, you must've listened to it a lot. That makes sense. It is beautiful to listen to, and the message is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The lyrics are so sad…but still lovely to hear. You wonder how the guy singing must feel; awful, probably. You can't imagine losing the one you love most.

"New favorite." You smile.

Ratchet nods. "It's really sad, but it's really nice at the same time."

You hear Alister's voice. "Ratchet, Kiari, come in. I'm setting a course for planet Lumos. It's in the Korthos Sector."

Ratchet nodded. "Copy that. I've got the coordinates."

You smiled. "We'll see you soon."

"Well…Ratchet, just so you know, I'm sorry you had to go so long without another Lombax to talk to. If I had known you were alive, I would've come for you. Just know that from this day forth, you have a family." Alister's words rock you like a thunderbolt. "And Kiari, I'm sorry if…no one was there to raise you. I want you to know that if I had the chance, I would've raised you as my own. You are your mother's daughter, and I owe her that much."

Family. It's…a foreign concept to you. What's it like to have parents? You don't remember, or maybe that's not just because of your amnesia. Maybe you never knew what it was like. Did you raise yourself? And what if you did? Did you have any siblings? If someone did raise you, did you think they were your real parents, or did you know you didn't share blood?

His words touch Ratchet too. You smile. "Thank you, Alister. That means a lot to me." Suddenly…your father's name doesn't matter anymore. You have a family now. And Alister may actually be the closest thing to a father you've ever had. Ratchet might be the only brother-like person you've ever had. Did you have a brother? An older brother would be awesome.

Ugh, so many questions. You just want this amnesia to end, so you can have them answered. You want to know who you really are…the inscription on the back of your music player could provide an answer as to your true name. You need to find Clank as soon as possible.

You look at Ratchet. He hasn't said a word. He looks…sad. "Ratchet?" You start. "Are you okay?" You don't like it when he's quiet like this, he doesn't seem like himself when he is.

He nodded. "Yeah, I just…I never really had a family. I don't really know what it's like."

You nodded. "I know. I don't remember, or maybe…I just never knew. I'm a little scared to find out." You said with a light laugh. "Don't feel bad, Ratchet." You put your hand on his arm. "We're family, remember? Our parents were best friends; they would've wanted us to be friends."

He smiles. "Thanks Kiari."

**That's the end, people. I was really hoping this would reach six pages, but I guess not. Oh well. Time to close this chapter and finish the update for Wonderland. And this will probably be the last time I update, since tomorrow's Monday and I need to study my geometry exam tomorrow. **

**See you later!**

**~Mimi**


	11. Chapter XI

**imiI know I said I wasn't going to update until the weekend, but I have an appointment this morning, which means I don't have to go to school. This means I can update today. Updating does always make me happy, and hopefully the readers as well.**

**Your POV:**

You drum your fingers on the side of the ship, Nefarious' words ringing in your head.

"_The first Lombax you met was the product of shame."_

"Are you okay?" Ratchet asked.

"Ugh, I don't know. I keep thinking about what Nefarious said. He called me the product of shame, and I have no idea what that means. He seems to know more about me than I do, and it's driving me insane because I don't know how he knows anything about me."

Thinking back to when you met Ratchet, you think that maybe it was Nefarious who shot you down. He must've done a bioscan and mistaken you for Ratchet. But that still doesn't explain how he knows you.

You rub your neck. You must've slept on it wrong last night, because it really hurts. There's…something wet on your hand. You pull it back, and there's a red liquid on your-oh my God, that's blood! "Ratchet," You show him your palm.

He looks surprised, and he puts Aphelion on autopilot for a second. He reaches over. "Hold still." You nodded, and he pulls something out of your neck. You yell out in pain. He dabs off the blood and it's…some little microchip-looking thing. You put your hand over the wound to stop the bleeding.

"_That_ was in my _neck_? What _is_ that?"

Ratchet shrugs. "I don't know. I think it's Lombax technology. We'll have Alister take a look at it when we get to Krell Canyon."

Aphelion cuts you off before you can speak. "Warning. Warning. Hostile ships detected." Oh my God, why does everyone want to kill you? At least your neck stopped bleeding.

True to her word, there are enemy ships headed your way. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

A second woman talks. She has some kind of accent, and she sounds a bit younger than the first. "Aw, looks like these Lombaxes are lost."

"What do you say girls?" Is that even a woman! You…you think it is. But she sounds…so…man-ish! Her (or maybe his) voice is really deep. "Should we help them find their way?" This…can't be good. Damn it.

The second woman speaks again. "Cassy! We've picked up a signature three thousand kilocubits north of Orrack Minor. It's a Lombax ship."

Cassy seems to be the leader, and the first woman who spoke. "Hm, General Azimuth. The bounty's up to two million bolts on him. Libra!" She barks. "Be a good girl, and take care of our friends. We'll kill the elder."

Once they sign off, Ratchet doesn't waste a second warning Azimuth. "General, come in. You've got hostile ships inbound."

"I see 'em. They're Valkyries, expert pilots who work for Nefarious. I'll lose them in the asteroid belt, you just head for Lumos."

Once Ratchet's been shooting at Libra and after she's done taking damage, she puts up a shield and other Valkyries move in to attack.

**(Fast Forward a bit)**

The Valkyries flee after Libra is down. You feel guilty about her death, but you didn't have any choice. It was either you and Ratchet or her, and it couldn't be her. You take a deep breath and look at the chip that was in your neck.

What is that? And what was it doing in your neck? You think it's supposed to track your location or something like that. But what kind of parent would chip their child? If it is from one of your-adoptive parents. Now you have even more questions for Alister-his exile, your father's name, and what the hell _is_ that?

You receive a message from Qwark. Oh yeah, you forgot about him. That's why the name Agorians seemed so familiar to you. That's where the Fungoids sent Qwark to. "Ratchet, Ratchet, Kiari, come in. Are you out there?"

"We read you Qwark. How are things with the Agorians?"

"Uh, not so good. Somehow they got the idea that I'm some thrill-seeking warrior with a thirst for battle."

Ratchet rolls his eyes. You feel sorry for him, he must have to put up with Qwark a _lot_. "Well, did you tell them you're a thrill-seeking warrior with a thirst for battle?"

"I was trying to make friends!" Hand, meet Face. "Listen, I'm in a lot of trouble. They entered me in their tournament, you gotta get me outta here!"

"Alright, we'll be there as soon as we can. Just…find some place to hide until we get there."

"Message received. Qwark out."

You groan. "Son of a-"

Landing on planet Lumos in Krell Canyon, you spot Alister waiting for you. "Ah, perfect time. I've triangulated the Obsidian Eye's location somewhere in these caves. Follow me, and stay close."

You catch up to Alister with Ratchet at your side, but you suddenly feel very awkward being near him. You had so many questions for him, but all of a sudden, you don't know what to ask. You figure the chip in your hand. Should you ask him about that, or get your father's name first? You…don't want to ask him about his exile, for the risk of fainting again.

**(Fast Forward)**

You're currently hanging on a pipe, narrowly avoiding the tetramites at your feet. You can hear the growl sound they're emitting. You first think they're hungry and then you inwardly scream at yourself for putting that thought into your brain.

"You're doing great Kiari," Alister calls. "Keep going-and don't look down." You-of course-look down. Seeing them less than a foot away from you, you return your eyes to the wall in front of you and breathe. You shimmy to the right and you're happy to be back on solid ground.

You shiver, looking back at them. "Nasty little bastards."

Ratchet smirked, giving you a knowing look. "Wow, I thought for sure you were gonna flip 'em off."

"Nooo," You start, giving him that look that girls have when someone automatically assumes that they're going to do something. " I'm going to flip them off when we don't have to go back. I don't want to get them angry." They might say "screw you" to their hatred and come after you regardless and you do not want to give them any reason to get revenge.

"Right." He dragged out his reply.

"Come on, follow me." He flies off on his hoverboots.

"General, wait!" Ratchet's voice echoes through the cave. Alister was avoiding his questions earlier, dodging them but just barely. Ratchet's been thinking the same things you have. Why isn't Alister with the Lombaxes?

You and Ratchet follow him, and catching up to him, Alister tosses a green light onto the ground as he examines the world. "General," Ratchet starts. "Will you just…stop for a second? I wanna know what happened." You reach for the chip in your pocket.

"Questions, questions…you ask all these questions!" Alister snaps. You know you should back off. Half of your heart is saying to back off, and the other half is saying to interrogate him. You have to if you want to find out the truth. "Ask yourself this: how relevant is the past when it can be changed? Your father would've said 'not very'."

"That's _him_." Ratchet responded. "Not me. And you still haven't given _me_ a straight answer. Now why aren't you with the Lombaxes?" The tension in the air is rising.

"_Because I failed them_!"

His words and tone aren't the only thing that takes you by surprise. It's the look on his face that startles you the most. He looks guilty, and also…a bit tortured. "I failed them…" He mutters, sinking to the ground against the wall. He lowers his head in shame. "I made a mistake." There's nothing but silence for a few moments before Alister explains. "After the Great War, Polaris was a dangerous place. Even with the Cragmites gone, I knew steps needed to be taken to protect the galaxy. One day, we were approached by an inventor with incredible ideas; technology light years beyond what we were using. The inventor was someone…" He looks at you and then at Ratchet. "Someone your mother and your father warned me not to trust. Our kind had grown suspicious of him, but I was convinced this was the right thing to do-for the galaxy! I granted him full access to our technology, all of our secrets. Only when he was finished…"

"The destruction of the Lombaxes." You said it before you even thought it, and it came out before you could stop yourself. "That's what I keep seeing." The visions keep replaying themselves when you close your eyes.

"What?" Ratchet asked, raising an eyebrow at you. "What are you talking about?"

You growl at yourself. Damn it. "Whenever I pass out, I see Lombaxes being slaughtered by giant robots. Tachyon's forces." You explain.

Alister nodded. "They took refuge in the court, but Ratchet, your father refused. He would never have left your mother, but when he made it back, she…she was already gone. I don't know how long he survived before Tachyon caught up with him, but I know I was responsible for his death."

You raise an eyebrow. "And my mother?" You ask.

He looks…wounded. Even more so than before. "Your mother and father gave her life to save you. You were just a baby at the time…it must be your amnesia that's making you remember. But I…" He shivered. "I saw her die before my eyes. I did everything I could to save her but I…I couldn't. I wasn't good enough."

Realization dawns on you. You can't believe you didn't see it before. It was always right there in front of you, it was so obvious, and you should've seen it before. "My mother wasn't just a friend to you, was she?" He looks shocked at first, but then nods. "You loved her."

"With everything I had." He mutters. That's why he doesn't want to talk to you about your father. Your father was the man who your mother married. Your father was the man who your mother loved and cherished and had a child with. He didn't want to talk about him.

You feel like an idiot.

Alister stands up. "For my crimes, I was forbidden from joining the Lombaxes. And so, I live in exile. But I can make it right. We…we can fix it." He puts his hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "With the Clock under our control, it'll be like none of this ever happened." He turns around and raises his weapon. "Stay with me, and I promise, I'll get your family back." He crashes through the wall, and it explodes and crumbles. Rocks go flying everywhere, and suddenly, that chip in your pocket is the least of your concerns.

You want your questions answered. Now you wish you hadn't asked.

**I would've updated yesterday, but I was distracted by…My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Bronies unite.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	12. Chapter XII

**Here is the new chapter of Born This Way. This story is certainly taking longer than I thought it would. I still don't have that much of an idea of how many chapters it's going to be or how much longer it will be until it's finished. But I do have the sequel already planned out; it'll be a lot more light-hearted than Born This Way, and will be mostly humor with a bit of romance and family. In case anyone doesn't know, the sequel is titled Born To Be Brave. Wonderland will also have a sequel.**

**Your POV:**

Getting outside and back into the sunlight (God damn it was dark in there!), you see it's a full-on battle. There are these huge creatures, big and ugly and purple/pink-colored. There are ships blasting the settlement buildings and others are on foot, destroying things with their weapons.

There's the robot you met earlier, the first of this race. "Outsiders, you must help! The Agorians have launched a full-scale assault on the settlement! Our kind have barricaded themselves in their homes!"

Alister shakes his head. "We have no time for petty squabbles. Kiari, Ratchet, remember the mission: the Obsidian Eye is all that matters."

"General!" You shout. "I'm surprised at you! How could you just turn these people away? They need our help!" You're not just surprised, you're disappointed.

"The Eye-" He starts, but you cut him off.

"I want to save the Lombaxes and my parents just as much as you do, but I can't just ignore these people."

**Alister's POV:**

She really is just like her mother. Keyla would've never turned away from someone who needed help. She doesn't seem to have inherited any traits from her father, physically or personality-wise except for her eyes. "You're just like your mother…" You mutter.

"Then you should know I will never turn my back on people who need me."

**Your POV:**

The rusty robot (whose name you should really find out) interrupts. "The Eye! It's in a temple. I can take you there. Please, we are not an aggressive race. Help us defeat the Agorians and I'll show you where it is."

In the distance, you see an Agorian ship target and fire at a bridge. In a matter of seconds, it explodes and crumbles to the ground.

Nodding to Alister and Ratchet, you head off in your own direction, ready to face danger by yourself for once.

When you come face to face with an Agorian, you realize just how much trouble Qwark must be in. After this, you really need to go save him. These guys are big, big as Qwark himself, but defiantly stronger and more violent. Qwark's in more danger than you thought. He is a total coward, and at first you thought he was just exaggerating, but now you see you owe him an apology.

You really need to find a better weapon than the Omni Wrench. You still like it (it's never let you down yet!) but when the enemy is this strong, you need something a little stronger and something that lets you get just a little farther from him. You suddenly find yourself missing Ratchet. You've never had to be without him, and he's always there to help you…but he and Alister are busy.

You resort to throwing rocks. Crude, but effective.

…And it gets the Agorian pissed off.

You let out a battle cry and charge, going straight for the legs. You take a few bruises and scratches, but after a bit of fighting, you win! "Victory!" You shout.

"Good job." You turn to see Ratchet standing there. What makes your heart beat is the proud look on his face. It gives you a strong feeling of accomplishment. "I knew you could take care of yourself."

You smile back. "Thanks." Your main goals are to help Ratchet find Clank and to become a better fighter. You want to help Ratchet, not be a burden to him.

The Agorians also have robots out plus those dinosaur-looking things they ride on. They're a certainly a violent race if they just go picking fights for no reason.

…

Yep, Qwark's in trouble.

**(Fast Forward)**

"An entire Agorian armada held off by three outsiders! _Incredible_! We thank you!"

Alister smirks. "Happy to be of service! However, there is the matter of guiding us to the Obsidian Eye." You don't feel that much anger towards the General. He just wants to find the Eye and get your parents back. How could you be mad about that when he's doing all of this for you and Ratchet's families?

"Yes, of course. Naturally, I can't take you there myself-far too treacherous for me-but here it something to help you through the cave." He hands Ratchet an OmniSoaker, a gun that shoots out water. He opens the door and you, Ratchet, and Alister head through the cave. "We closed off these caves years ago. Too many dangers, too many deaths. Perhaps that OmniSoaker will ward off the Tetramites."

Ugh, lovely. More of those nasty little things.

**(Fast Forward)**

"My God, that's creepy." You mutter. You've come across another Tetramite nest, and all of those eyes staring back at you through the holes are seriously disturbing. You're gonna start having nightmares of those things if you have to keep seeing them. Fortunately using that nectar and the OmniSoaker, you can distract them and get away from them.

Following Azimuth across the bridge, you can tell he's in high spirits, and with good reason to be too! "Do you realize that we are just hours away from reversing the greatest tragedy in the history of the universe? Ratchet, your father, and Kiari-your mother! Everyone will be here, safe and sound!" God damn, he's fast!

Alister's right. Once you go back in time, Tachyon's work will be undone. And then, none of the Lombaxes would've been killed, and you'll have both of your parents back. You'll know who you really are. Knowing how far back you'll be going, you'll grow up with your name. And you'll grow up with Ratchet, too. Only, you won't remember Alister's feelings for your mother and you might never know.

It must've been torture for him to see Keyla with another man. You wonder if…

"General," You call. He turns to you. "Did you…ever tell my mom how you felt about her?"

He stops for a second and goes quiet. The air turns awkward again. You reallyyyy need to stop stepping over those boundaries like that. "Yes, I did. Many times. She didn't want to ruin our friendship."

**Alister's POV:**

You're only half-lying.

**Your POV:**

"I see."… Awkward…and then a bit of tension. Only now do you realize what Alister must feel like looking at you and seeing your mother's face but with another man's eyes and knowing that you're that man's child and not his.

Azimuth turns away. The Obsidian Eye looks a lot different than what you expected. You thought it would just be…well, a giant eye. It actually looks like a computer; there's a keyboard and a screen. In the center is a large blue gem with a few chippings.

"Fulcrum star's cracked. We may not be able to get a signal." Alister mutters, typing on the keyboard.

A female voice from the computer speaks. "Standby for system uplink."

In a matter of seconds, you see a robot and several copies of him on the blue crystal.

"Clank!" Ratchet shouts, getting the robot's attention.

"Ratchet?" So this is Clank! You can't help your smile. You're so close to finding him! Only…then what happens? "How did you find me?"

Ratchet laughs a little. "You kidding me? You think I'd leave my best pal out here alone?"

"Aw Ratchet," You feign being offended and give a false pout. "I thought I was your best pal!"

"Ratchet, who those people behind you?" Clank asks. "Are those…Lombaxes?"

Ratchet nods. "Yeah, this is General Azimuth, and this is Kiari. They've been helping me look for you!"

You wave. "Nice to meet ya, Clank."

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Kiari." …Did he just call you 'Miss' Kiari? He's the first robot you've ever met that's ever been so polite. Are good robots like him always so formal?

Ratchet smiles. "Just send me your coordinates, and we'll pick you up."

The female voice talks again. "Signal integrity thirty-three percent."

"Crap." You mutter.

Ratchet leans on the keyboard as Clank's tone turns urgent. "Ratchet, I need your help. Orvus is in trouble. You must go to Zanifar and confront Dr. Nefarious."

"Zanifar?" Alister asks. "Dr. Nefarious hasn't set foot on that rock since his station was completed two years ago."

"Then that is when you must confront him! Head to the Tombli Outpost and look for a time portal. Please, save my father."

"Father?" Ratchet shouts in shock. "Clank, what's going on?"

In a few seconds, the image of Clank flickers and then he's gone.

"We need to head for the Outpost." You said sternly. "I got questions for Nefarious. He knows who I am, and I intend to find that out."

**(Fast Forward)**

Sitting back in the Aphelion, you grab your music player, but before you can start jamming out you get a message from Alister. "Kiari, Ratchet, there's something I haven't told you about the clock. If we succeed-if we turn back time and stop Tachyon-the present as you know it will no longer exist."

You sigh. "General, that doesn't mean a lot for me. I don't know what my real name is. My past and my future are both blanks."

Ratchet blinks twice. "You mean…I won't remember Clank?"

"I mean…" Alister pauses. "You will never have met him in the first place. The Clock may offer some kind of temporary immunity for those who use it, but there are no guarantees."

Ratchet pauses. He seems to think about this for a minute, then… "If this is the only chance I have to save my family, I have to take it."

"Family…" You whisper to yourself, barely audible.

"Good." You hear Alister say. "Now don't be alarmed, but I just picked up Vorselon's signature not far from our location. I'll distract him while you head to the outpost and remember, if Orvus is alive, it's imperative that you get the clock's location from him! Good luck!"

"General, wait," You say. "We actually have a situation of our own to attend to. Ratchet brought Lord of the Stupid with us, and he's currently with the Agorians. If we don't go save him, he's defiantly going to die."

"Understood. Head to the outpost as soon as you can."

**Alister's POV:**

There's no stopping her, so why bother trying?

**Your POV:**

"Right." You said. "Ratchet and Kiari out." You sigh and relax up against your seat.

"You alright?" Ratchet asks.

"I've been meaning to ask you that. I know how hard this is on you, Ratchet."

He looks surprised but then smirks. "Wow, you're smarter than I thought you were." He teases.

You let out an offended gasp. "Screw _you_, Ratchet!"

**Wow, five pages and almost 2,000 words. I feel so accomplished, no joke. Also, updates are less frequent because I'm once again buried in homework, quizzes, and projects. Fuck my life. Oh well, at least we're finally on chapter 12.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**

**P.S. This update legit took me all day. ._.**


	13. Chapter XIII

**Well, you should all thank MrBlack103 for this update. His review inspired me to update again, so this chapter is for him (assuming he's a he, and I'm 99.9% sure he is). I just wish he'd tell me what he thought Alister was lying about! If you guys have any idea or a guess about what will happen, feel free to PM me about it. This is chapter XIII and for an Organization XIII fan like myself, that means a lot to me. In this chapter, they save Qwark. You should feel sorry for Kiari. She's so angry.**

**Your POV:**

The Battleplex looks a lot different than you thought it would. It's actually something of a ship, instead of being settled on a planet. In the lobby, there are statues of great warriors, and there are some arcade games. The lobby's filled with Agorians (just as giant as you remember) and there's a decent number of Terachnoids.

You and Ratchet head up to the front desk to see a hologram of one. "Welcome, welcome, welcome to Open Fight Night at the Battleplex! You like to fight?" Yes, yes you do! There's nothing like the sound of robot parts hitting the ground. "You like to mix it up? You look like a couple of mixer-uppers. How 'bout your names?"

"I'm Ratchet."

"My name's Kiari." You still can't help but wonder what your real name is.

He laughs a little bit. "That's a silly name, boy. What, your folks lose a bet? Kidding! I'm Mac. You have to excuse the hologram. Folks around here have a tendency to throw things." Well, you and the Agorians have two things in common: you both like to fight, and you both enjoying throwing stuff. "Take a look around. If you need anything, Mac's your guy!"

"Yeah, where can we sign up for the fight?" Ratchet asks.

"You got something to prove, huh? You got moxie kid, I like that. Head over to the gladiator entrance." Up the stairs, there's a big door with a sign over it that you can't read but you're assuming it says either "enter" or "entrance".

"One more thing," You start. "What's with all of the Terachnoids?"

"Ah, you noticed that? The Agorians may be strong, but they're a bit short-changed in the brain department." Well, you certainly know how that feels. Ratchet is never bringing Qwark with you again. "So they hired us to do their thinking for them."

"Thanks, Mac." You said with a smile.

"Anytime, kid." Are you a kid? You don't remember your own name, so for all you know, you could be a kid!

Heading up the stairs you ask, "Hey Ratchet, how old are you?"

"I've been 23 for a few months. Why?"

You shrug. "I don't know, I was just thinking about how old I am."

"Well, you're just a bit shorter than me, so you're probably a little bit younger than me."

Looking at Ratchet, you see that he's right. You are shorter than him, but just barely. Looking at his face, you see that Ratchet isn't bad-looking. He's really cute, actually.

…God, what are you thinking? That's your best friend!

"Ratchet, I was thinking, how'd you meet Clank?"

He looks surprised. "Clank and I met when I was 15. He crashed on the planet I was living on at the time."

"When you were 15? Damn."

Entering the hallway, there's only a glass wall keeping the Agorians at bay. And that glass must be pretty damn strong, because there are a few of them pounding their fists on it. "You're gonna get ripped apart!" One of them shouts. You barely resist the temptation to flip them off.

"Ratchet, Kiari, where are you?" You hear Qwark from the link he has with Ratchet.

"We were just checking out the sights at the Battleplex." Ratchet says nonchalantly. "Did you know have a full arcade here?" You cover your mouth to hide your giggles.

"Really? Well, how wonderful for you because I'm about to get killed!"

"And whose fault is that?" You asked with a roll of your eyes.

"Alright, alright. Calm down, don't worry, we're on our way."

**(Fast Forward)**

The arena is giant. It's like a stadium; there are rows and rows of filled seats and the arena is surrounded by molten lava. Lovely. The Agorians have sent some challengers after you and have also called in the use of robots. Whoever the announcer is, he certainly doesn't sound Agorian. His voice isn't rough and he doesn't talk like he has a speech impediment. "We have new challengers! Wait-are those Lombaxes? Oh, you may not want to leave your seats for popcorn folks-" At first, you thought he was talking about how rare Lombaxes are and how interesting the match would be, then he says "-This should be over within seconds!" After that, you hear a lot of booing from the audience.

"Asshole!" You shout, smashing a robot to pieces. "Qwark, you owe us big time!" You snap, narrowly avoiding a hit from an Agorian.

"Now she's hardcore folks-no weapons, no gadgets, just a Lombax, her boyfriend, and her wrench."

You stop, and you immediately feel all the color going to your face. "He's _not_ my boy-"

Of course, you don't exactly have time to finish your sentence because they've sent down more robots and since each different battle has different conditions (this one being no use of weapons or gadgets) means you can't use your hoverboots. You need to move fast. Being a Lombax and having agility has never been more useful to you then now.

After wave five, you hear the cheering crowds and the announcer shouts over them, "How about that folks? Another amazing victory! Now, how about we give these Lombaxes a little backup?" More cheering from the crowd answers that question. "Alright! Please welcome, all the way from the Solana Galaxy-" You exchange glances with Ratchet, wondering who your teammate is. "Mister Copernicus Qwark!" Oh, fuck.

You see Qwark with an Agorian being elevated into the ring. "That's Captain Qwark!" The Agorian removes the shackles on his wrist. "I didn't take a three-week hero correspondence course to be called mister!" The irritated nameless Agorian shoves a weapon at him and partially knocks the wind out of him. "Easy on the goods, pal!"

"We are so screwed." You mutter.

The next way is even more violent than the last, and you get the feeling they send more and more each time. By the end, you and Ratchet are so exhausted you can barely stand. Ratchet is leaning against his wrench that's propped up on the ground where you're sitting, both of you trying to catch your breathe. "Qwark, I'm so going to get you for this."

Only, things go from bad to worse-and Qwark didn't even jinx you! "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for-it's time for the war grok!" The announcer shouts over the excited crowd.

"Never fear, Ratchet and Kiari!" Qwark starts one of his babbles again, trying to look like the big hero he's trying to seem. "While I was in captivity, I trained with the elite Umbuko gladiators of Teraklon Six! My body is in peak physical condition! My senses as sharp as trillium razors!"

"It's not him I'm worried about." You say as Ratchet helps you up.

"Release the war grok!"

You turn around to see a purple monster with what looks like a black shell. It's almost twice as big as the Agorian that's trying to keep it restrained with a chain and collar. The war grok rips the chain clean off and then throws the Agorian into the crowd. You're…in trouble.

Qwark pokes you and Ratchet on the head, shouts "Not it!" and then ducks into the corner. Of course.

Qwark once again proves to be damn useless, because while you and Ratchet are running off into certain death, he just stands shouting out obnoxious cheers and claiming that he taught you and Ratchet that move where he throws you into the air so you can attack from above. Whenever the war grok comes at him, he just runs away screaming. It's a good thing Ratchet's allowed to use weapons now, otherwise, yeah, you would both be dead by now.

…You're seriously jealous of his aim.

Finally, the war grok falls to the ground. Your heart feels like it's going to explode. You help an equally-exhausted Ratchet stand up. "Gladiators!" Booms the announcer. "You must kill the war grok!"

Ratchet walks up to it with his wrench, only it's not unconscious and it snaps at him, causing him to jump back. He raises his wrench, when you hear a long and continuous "No!" and Qwark shoves him to the ground and speaks to the audience. "Honorable lizard things," You swear to God, you're gonna kill him. "I understand your proud warrior ways." While Qwark is being the asshole he is, Ratchet scrambles to his feet and runs away from the war grok trying to avoid death.

"Ratchet!" You yell, catching up to him.

The war grok pushes him to the ground, and the only thing that's preventing it from making Ratchet it's lunch is his wrench that's jammed into it's mouth. You just try to get it away from him. "Qwark!" Ratchet growls. "This thing is trying to eat me!"

You slam your wrench against it's head. "Get. Off. Of. Him!" You snap.

"These Lombaxes are young." Okay, there is no way that guy is that much older than you. "They don't understand that being a hero is 45% strength, 60% bravery, and 10% raw intelligence!" He said, tapping his blaster against his head.

"That's 115 percent!"

"You're welcome!" He drops to his knees. "Please, take me instead! All that I ask is that you name something impressive in my honor. Perhaps a school…or a food court."

The crowd becomes silent, but someone is clapping. In a few moments, the people erupt with applause that turns into a storm. "By the blade of Argos," The announcer shouts. "You have honored us! You are a true hero!" Ratchet is thrown to the other side of the ring, and you rush over to help him.

The war grok is acting like a puppy, and he's on his back with Qwark rubbing his belly. "Who's a good war grok? You are! Yes you are! I'm gonna name you Snowball!"

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ratchet mutters as you wrap your arm around his shoulder and help him up.

You roll your eyes. "I am really starting to hate that guy."

"Hi-Ho Snowball, away!" Qwark hops onto the war grok's back and runs away with it.

**(Fast Forward)**

You…are seriously exhausted. Your arms and legs are massively sore. You've never been more happy to sit down…well, as far as you remember, anyway. You rub your aching shoulder. You swung your wrench one too many times.

Qwark's voice just irritates your headache. "Mega-hero to Ratchet and Kiari, repeat, Mega-hero to Ratchet and Kiari!"

"…Mega-hero?" Ratchet asks.

"Eh, the fellas and I decided it was time that I graduated from 'super'. It's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it? So, I'm chillin' here at a Battleplex afterparty when this foxy young lady tells me of a secret entrance to Nefarious' station. At least…I think it's a lady. Hard to tell with Agorians. Either way, leave the investigation to me. I've got a plan!" You really hope you don't have to go save him again.

You reach for your music player off the dashboard. You plug in your earbuds, and then you get a message from Alister as you reach the Tombli barrier. "Just as I suspected. Vorselon is making a sweep of the entire sector. Kiari, Ratchet, head to Zanifar. I'll lead their scouts as far away as I can. Good luck."

"Same to you, General, and be careful. Ratchet and Kiari out." You said, going to radio silence. You scroll through the songs, and just click on one. You turn down the volume just a bit so you're not completely deaf to Ratchet.

**Ratchet's POV:**

Kiari's defiantly going to go deaf with how loud she has her music turned up. You can hear the words perfectly.

_I hung up the phone tonight,_

_Something happened deep inside._

_What a rush (what a rush)._

'_Cause the possibility that you would ever feel the same way about me…_

_It's just too much (just too much)._

_Why do I keep running from the truth?_

_All I ever think about is you._

_You got hypnotized,_

_So mesmerized,_

_And I just got to know…_

_Do you ever think…when you're all alone…_

_All that we could be?_

_When I think, I go…_

"_Am I crazy or falling in love?_

_Is it real or just another crush?"_

_Do you catch your breathe_

_When I look at you?_

_Are you holding back_

_Like the way you do?_

'_Cause I try and try to walk away,_

_But I know this crush ain't going away._

_Has it ever crossed your mind_

_When we're hanging, spending time girl,_

_Are we just friends?_

_Is there more?_

You look at Kiari whose staring off into space (in more ways than one) and all of a sudden…your heart feels funny.

**Wow, I feel so proud of myself. Not only did I update two days in a row, but this update is actually over 2,000 words and six pages long! And I like the way I ended it. I thought it was cute. By the way, when this story is over, there will be an epilogue and credits. There, you'll find the FAQs and the soundtrack that will have which chapter the song is used. The song used in this chapter is Crush by David Archuleta. **

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	14. Chapter XIV

**Here's the new chapter of Born This Way. I don't get that many reviews on my story, but I've never gotten a bad review, which makes me feel better. In this chapter, we head to the Tombli Outpost, and something at the end triggers bad feelings in Kiari.**

**Your POV:**

_Say it loud!_

_Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh._

_We love to love ya, love to love ya._

_Say it loud!_

_Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh._

_We love to love ya, love to love ya._

_Put my name on the line for love, 'cause this is what I've been waiting for._

_I saw you don't like the sign of us._

_So follow me (follow me)._

_You paint a big picture of me (of me)._

_There's higher (higher) than me._

_If love and freedom's all that we need,_

_Follow me (follow me)._

_Say it loud!_

_Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh_

_We love to love ya, love to love ya._

_Say it loud!_

_Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh_

_We love to love ya, love to love ya._

_Put my name on the line for love._

_Together, we'll break down the walls._

_This is a different kind of war,_

_So follow me (follow me)._

_You paint a big picture of me (of me)._

_There's higher (higher) than me._

_If love and freedom's all that we need,_

_Then follow me (follow me)._

_Come one, come all…_

"Building an army, building an army. Just calm down, calm down. Building an army, an army of love." This song is certainly different from the other artists on your music player; she's happier and more upbeat, and she's got a lot of songs like this one. There's one that goes "Welcome to the Creepshow" and "Hear me shout, tip me over, and pour me out." You're starting to get the hang of the device too.

Speaking of technology, you feel for the small chip in your pocket. You really should find out what it is. It _was_ in your neck.

You come to the Tombli outpost and you hear Aphelion as you wrap your earbuds around your music player. "My senses are detecting an unknown anomaly, similar to the one that hit us near Quantos."

"Don't worry, you're sitting this one out." Ratchet said as you follow him out of the ship. It's freezing out here. It's not like before you wish you were back in the ship.

The snow crunches under your feet, and you get a closer look at the outpost. There are tall buildings and spotlights, and there's a tower with a green dome that looks really familiar. The trees all look dead and the ground is harsh and rocky with no plants, only blue crystals. You and Ratchet start looking for the time portal, and it doesn't take much time of walking in icy weather before you wish Clank had been more specific as to where it was.

You go up the path and then slingshot to the building, smashing the robots that were waiting for you to pieces.

…

Getting through the door, you come to see Fungoids captured, behind some walls that look like they're made out of electricity. "Praise Orvus," Says the first one, perhaps the chief from the staff he has. "Lombaxes! Have you come to help us escape?"

"What happened here?" Ratchet asked.

"Dr. Nefarious." Wow, this guy is just gonna keep causing you problems, isn't he? "He tricked us into building this outpost, and before we knew, his troops were herding us into detainment camps! They're controlled by that guard tower up there. Please, help us."

… **(A couple hours later)**

After disabling the fields, you hear cries of joy from the Fungoids who shout of freedom. You smile and bro-fist Ratchet and head through the door that opened. You head to what looks like the time portal; it's big and blue and while it's solid at the edges, through it you can see what this place looked like a few years ago.

But when you arrive in the past, it's…completely different. It's bright and the sun is out. It's nice and warm, and the Fungoids look happy. There are plenty of plants and flowers, and everything just looks happy and healthy. However, when you go to speak with the Fungoids you see that not everything is what it seems. They're all spitting stuff out about Nefarious, and none of it is bad. It's all, "Dr. Nefarious is wonderful", "A day without Dr. Nefarious is a day without sunshine", and even "If I had one last piece of gum, and Dr. Nefarious asked for it, I'd give him the gum".

"Ratchet, something's wrong. I mean, listen-they sound like they're catatonic." Catatonic means a state resembling trance, and they said like…they sound it's prerecorded, like they've been hypnotized.

Ratchet nodded. "I think Nefarious brainwashed them."

You scoff. "I wouldn't put it past him." It defiantly makes sense. There's a computer-generated voice that seems to be coming from every direction saying things like "You love Dr. Nefarious" and "Dr. Nefarious is wonderful".

It makes you want to blow your brains out.

…

After planting the seeds to go vines that you'll need in the present, you return to it through the portal. And it's back to freezing weather.

It's only a heartbeat before you and Ratchet lead a rebellion against Nefarious. You feel pretty damn good about yourself.

…

Heading back to the past, you infiltrate the outpost. It's defiantly not easy, since there are guards waiting there for you. Fortunately, you've got Ratchet by your side. He knows what he's doing, and you don't have to worry about anything.

Now that you're thinking about it, Ratchet is always there for you, isn't he? He's always there to help you, and he's…never left your side. You've never had to do anything without him. Suddenly, you feel guilty about keeping your visions a secret from him. He's your friend, you should trust him-you should've told him. And…he kinda makes your heart feel weird when you're standing near him. He's always so kind and selfless, everything he does-he does for someone else, and that someone else is usually you or it's for Clank. He never does anything for himself.

Ratchet is your best friend…and…he is just that…right?

…

You stay close to Ratchet as you head into the elevator. You look down to see a Techranoid (Pollyx?) and Nefarious holding Orvus in captivity in a canister. Nefarious' guards stand close by, and Nefarious is going off again.

"You twit! You told me this would work!" Oh, if only he knew the destruction you and Ratchet have caused.

"I-I don't know what's happening. We should've found it by now." He's typing away on what looks like a calculator, but you know it's not. "He must've erased his own memory."

You heard the Fungoids talking about Orvus having a meeting with Dr. Nefarious. They must've thought it was an actual philosophical discussion, and Orvus must've believed that too, otherwise he never would've come. Orvus would never leave the clock without good reason.

Orvus doesn't look that good. He looks really weak; he can't even lift his head up and his arms are limp. "Time is a gift." He manages to get out. "And not to be tampered with." You and Ratchet quietly jump down from the ledge you're standing on. He's got a bomb, just in case.

"This is your last chance, Orvus. _How do I get into the chamber_?"

Orvus tries to reason with him. "You are making a mistake! The clock is not a time machine."

Frustrated and irritated (not to mention, getting impatient), Nefarious points to one of his guards who shoots at the canister Orvus is trapped in. But Orvus doesn't falter; instead, he actually seems to get a bit of strength into him as he toughens his resolve. "There is only one who will enter my chamber, and he is safe, far from you." In a bright flash of light, Orvus is gone.

Nefarious presses himself to the tank. "Where is he? Where did he go?" He turns to who you think is Pollyx.

"I don't know, sir!" The poor creature stutters out. "I'm pulling up a residual image from his data banks. We can it before he…dissipated." You see a blue screen with data on it, and a big picture of a smiling…

Ratchet raises an eyebrow. "Clank?"

Nefarious is alerted to your presence, and he turns around. He doesn't look very happy to see you. "You." He growls, taking a step towards you.

Ratchet throws the bomb at him, and all you hear as you and Ratchet ran for your damn lives is a loud crack and an incessant "No" that's followed by a beyond-pissed off "Annihilate them, you fools!"

The guards start shooting at you, and you and Ratchet crash through glass, and you can't help the feeling of accomplishment as you return to the present through the portal.

You head back to Aphelion, who was waiting patiently for you and Ratchet. And it's still freezing in the present. You grab your music player off the dashboard as Ratchet starts up the ship but the face you see on the screen disturbs you.

"Greetings, young Lombaxes."

"Vorselon?" You immediately snap. "What do you want?" You certainly haven't forgotten him. You rub the spot where he ripped out your fur. It still hasn't grown back all the way yet.

"Well, I think I may have come across something that belongs to you." The camera shifts over, and you see Azimuth in a cage!

"General!" Ratchet shouts as you yell "Alister!" at the same time.

"It is a dark day when one is tasked with destroying a third of the galaxy's Lombax population." You don't hold back your growl. "I assure you I act only out of contractual obligation."

"Kiari, Ratchet, don't listen to him! Find the-" He can't finish his sentence because Vorselon shocks him with electricity from his claw, increasing your level of anger and striking your heart with worry and fear.

"Only one Lombax need perish tonight. If you would be willingly to take his place, I'd be happy to postpone the execution."

You snap in response. "No. I'll take his place."

"What?" Vorselon seems surprised at that. "You?"

"You said a Lombax, and I am a Lombax." You respond.

"Kiari, are you crazy?" Ratchet shouts.

"Obviously!" You shout back.

"Excellent!" Vorselon says, drawing your attention back to the screen. "I've uploaded coordinates to your ship. Tick, tock. Better hurry." Then Alister must've attacked him or something, because the camera cracks and then the image goes to static and then it's gone.

**There's the new chapter. I finished this at 6:44am on the bus on the way to go school. I actually managed to update earlier than the weekend, and I'm glad I did because the Monster High special comes on this Sunday! *so excited***

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	15. Chapter XV

**Chapter 15 of Born This Way. It's the search and rescue mission and I started it right after I completed the last chapter. I'm also working on my friend Jen's birthday present (it's a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic story) but it'll be a few weeks before it's finished and up.**

**This chapter is for RosaRubra, who said THE nicest and most amazing thing anyone has ever said about any of my stories. I seriously wanted to cry tears of joy when I read her review. She made an account to just review and favorite my story and add it to her alerts. That means a LOT to me. So this chapter is for her. C:**

**I seriously want to go cry now…**

**Your POV:**

Before you board Vorselon's ship, you press the button on the side of your armor helmet to engage your oxygen mask. This time will defiantly be easier than the last. Almost immediately, the doors open up and as usual, you're greeted with angry robots with saw blades for hands. And this is where things get fun.

…

Vorselon's ship looks just like it did last time you were here, but at the same time, everything's changed. You feel so…different inside. Are you…supposed to feel like that? Your heart drops to your stomach. You feel…really on edge. Is that because of Alister's capture or because of something else?

You follow Ratchet up the stairs, and stand ready for action as he turns the crank and you can slingshot to the other platforms to activate the switches. You and Ratchet take the elevator down, where you find Vorselon waiting for you. Yep, he's still an ugly head in a big piece of scrap metal.

"You lasted longer than I expected." He says with a mocking tone. "Azimuth has taught you well."

"Where is he, Vorselon?" Ratchet growls.

You step forward, your wrench ready in your left hand. "What did you do to him?"

"Let's see, now where did I put him? There's the air lock, yes, the torture chamber, the day spa." Oh, that hasn't changed each other. Seriously, is this guy trying to act cool and tough? Because he's not. He's just not. "Tell you what; if you defeat me, maybe I'll tell you."

"Uh, no, you're going to tell me after you beg for mercy." You snap.

…

Vorselon's upped his game since the last time you fought. But then again, so have you. You're in better shape, actually. You can move a little faster and you hit a little harder thanks to the muscle you've been developing from swinging your wrench around and destroying robots. Vorselon still uses electricity as his main way of attacking, but his attacks pack a little more punch.

What's a total bitch is when he turns invisible, and you only have his footsteps to figure out where he is.

He comes up from behind you, and strikes you in the back and sends you flying across the room.

"Kiari!" Ratchet shouts. Your back is stinging painfully, and it burns a bit, but other than that you're fine. You hear Ratchet thrash him, and then Vorselon goes off shouting how he cannot be defeated. You sit up and see that he's once again just a head.

Ratchet comes over and helps you to your feet. "Are you alright?"

You wince, but then give a smirk. "Yeah, now that you've scrapped me off the floor, I'll be fine." You're just really starting to hate that asshole.

"Hold on, I have some Nanotech back in the ship. After we get Alister, we'll fix you up."

You smile, grateful for his concern, and he smiles back. Your heart jumps, just a little.

…

You follow Ratchet up into the elevator, and while your injury made it just a little bit harder to move, you still managed. Good thing too, because if you didn't move fast enough, the lasers would've sliced you in half. And that wouldn't have looked very good, would it?

The doors open, and you see Alister in the same cage, only there's a blue field keeping him bound there.

"Ratchet, Kiari, what are you doing?" Alister asks.

"We're getting you out of here." You say with a grin that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame.

Ratchet only smiles. "Relax, rescue mission are kinda my thing! Now how do we lower the containment field?"

Alister gives a sigh, and then says, "These cables must lead to some sort of power supply. Follow them and destroy the containment generators."

"Ratchet," You start. "You're better at this than I am. I think it's better that I stay here in case any more robots show up." What you really want to do is ask Alister a couple of questions. You just hope Ratchet gets the message from the look on your face.

Ratchet nodded, and gives you a smirk. "Okay. After all, I wouldn't want to fall and crack your head open when we're upside down."

You just give him the finger, and he laughs and then he's on his way. You turn to Alister. "Are you alright?" Vorselon did talk about a torture chamber; Alister looks okay though…

But he doesn't look happy. And he's not. "I told you to find the Clock." He says, looking disappointed and a bit angry.

You raise an eyebrow. "And, what, leave you here?"

"The clock is more important-"

You glower at him. "Alister, you said I'm just like my mom, and if that's true then you should I would never leave you behind." You stand strong, your hands into fists and at your sides. You are not about to back down now.

He seems surprised at your answer, then in his eyes, you see a flicker of something that looks like nostalgia. He's thinking… "You do have your mother's loyalty."

**Alister's POV:**

You remember the moment you last spoke to Keyla. Kiari has the exact same face.

"_Alister, you should I would never leave you behind."_

Ratchet may not be just like Kaden, but Kiari is just like Keyla in almost every way.

Except her eyes.

**Your POV:**

You nodded. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." You dig into your pocket and pull out the chip. "Ratchet found this in my neck. He says it looks like Lombax technology, and I thought you could help me." Alister was under the research center.

"Let Ratchet get me out of here first, so I can get a closer look at it."

**Alister's POV:**

She found it?

**Your POV:**

You smile, and you feel the tension in the air lift. "And Alister…how'd you meet my mom? Unless you don't wanna talk about it…"

He shakes his head, and gives you that proud face Ratchet does. "She was your mother, and she was a great Lombax. You deserve to know."

He starts to tell you about how he met your mother. It was back when they were little kids; their parents had been best friends, and had stayed together and had had him and Keyla. Then he starts talking about how they met Kaden when they were teenagers; Kaden's mother was a good friend of Alister's. You stand quietly, enjoying the stories of all the trouble they got into in their teens when Ratchet comes back. He lowers the containment field, and Alister jumps down from his cage.

"General, I forgot to tell you; we found out what happened to Orvus. We traveled back in time-"

"When?" Alister shouts. "How far?"

Ratchet nervously rubs the back of his head, and then says, "Not…far enough."

Alister looks disappointed, which means you feel disappointed in yourself. "Like I was saying, we found out what happened to Orvus. Nefarious was holding him hostage, and he was torturing him, and then Orvus was talking about Clank and then he…dissipated. I…think he's dead. I think. I'm not sure." You didn't actually see where Orvus went. He disappeared; for all you know, he could still be alive. "But if he is alive, he's probably at the clock. I don't think he can help us."

**Cliffhanger! Well, not really, since anyone who reads this knows what happens/what happened. I'll defiantly update again tomorrow, since I want to hurry up and finish Wonderland and Born This Way and move on to the sequels. Remember, the sequel to Born This Way is Born To Be Brave and the sequel to Wonderland is Life's Not A Fairytale. I've actually already partially started both.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	16. Chapter XVI

**I would've updated yesterday, but the goddamn sign in was being retarded. So, I bring you another update. We finally find out what the chip in Kiari's neck was for.**

**Your POV:**

In a few seconds after you finish your sentence, an alarm goes off and the entire place flashes red. Robots are dispatched.

_Don't be a drag,_

_Just be a queen._

_Whether you're broke or evergreen._

_You're black, white, beige, orient descent,_

_You're Lebanese, you're orient._

_Whether life's disabilities_

_Left you outcast, bullied, or teased,_

_Rejoice and love yourself today,_

'_Cause baby, you were born this way!_

_No matter gay, straight, or bi,_

_Lesbian, transgendered life,_

_I'm on the right track, baby,_

_I was born to survive!_

_No matter black, white, or beige_

_Chola or orient-made,_

_I'm on the right track,_

_Baby, I was born to be brave!_

…

Nearing the exit after a lot of fighting and destroying, Alister asks to see that chip. You take it out of your pocket and hand it to him, eager to discover what it is. Alister examines it for a second, and then looks surprised. "It is Lombax technology. The wires need to be fixed, but it's supposed to create a holographic disguise that changes as the wearer ages." He hands it back to you and you look at it.

"It must've broken when you crashed." Ratchet says.

You nodded. "We can fix it later. Right now, we should get out of here."

You exchange nods and head off into your ships. You head into the back to get the Nanotech for your injury. All you have to do is touch it, and you instantly feel better. You relax in your seat. "You alright?" Ratchet asks.

You nodded, and you start picking at the wires on the chip. You reconnect the blue wires to the red wires, and there's a bright flash of blue light that makes you shut your eyes.

"Kiari…?" Ratchet asks.

You turn to him. "What?"

"Um…you might want to look in the mirror…"

You raise an eyebrow. "Ratchet, if you've got a problem with my face, you can just-" You look at your reflection that's on the ship's dashboard. You see what he means. You look like those species that you had pictures of on your music player. You don't have fur (well, you do, it's on your head and it's blonde and really long) and you don't have claws. Your skin is really pale, and your eyes are round and green, not the red/brown color they really are. Your nails are painted black and red and your lips are fleshy and pink and your nose is sloped. "Hm. This must've been the species I was living with. Alister told me that when Tachyon attacked, my mother sent me to another galaxy. She must've put this chip on me so I would blend in." You just realize that when you're in disguise, you look like you're twice as tall as Ratchet, but you still feel short. You flip that little switch the chip has on the side and you revert back to your real form.

"You should keep that. We might need it later." Ratchet suggested. You nodded, and placed it back in your pocket for safe keeping. "Oh, and good job fixing it by yourself."

You smile. "Thanks."

You get a message from Alister. "Kiari, Ratchet, are you alright? Were you able to clear the ship?"

Ratchet nodded. "Yeah, we're clear. Were you able to decrypt Vorselon's flight data?"

"They're encoded with a double hexagonial holo-key, but one of the files was unprotected. It looks like coordinates to the Bernilius sector."

"Well, it's not much but it's our only lead. Upload them to our ship and we'll meet you there. Ratchet and Kiari out."

You jump to the Bernilius sector; the planets are blue, and there are groups of those blue crystals floating around. In a few minutes, you get another transmission from Alister. "Kiari, Ratchet, come in. I just picked up a looping transmission one of the emergency frequencies. Tell me what you make of this." You then hear a high-pitched that seems to be repeating itself over and over again. You certainly have no idea what it is, but Ratchet does.

"I don't believe it!" He says, which leaves you really confused. "That's a distress call with Clank's signature! Aphelion, can you track the source?"

After a few seconds, Aphelion says, "The origin appears to be planet Vapedia. Acquiring coordinates now."

"Just think," Alister says. "By tonight, your friend will be safe and the clock will be ours. I'll be there as soon as I can!" He signs off, and you only sigh, resting your head against the seat.

"You okay?" Ratchet asks.

You shake your head. "No. We're this close to the clock and getting your friend back, but I still don't remember anything about my life. I remember Tachyon's attack, but I don't remember me." It's so frustrating. You've gotten all these clues-the pictures, the chip-but you've still got nothing. You want to know who you are, and while Clank can give your real name… You sigh. "What does my real name matter if I don't remember having it?"

**Ratchet's POV:**

This must be harder on Kiari than it is on you. You're about to get your best friend back and then you're going to get your parents back. But until that happens, Kiari has to live with having a name that doesn't belong to her, and she has her history but not her history at the same time. She must've had friends and people she cared about, and now she'll never remember them. You look at her face. She looks so…well, angry at herself, and disappointed and frustrated all at the same time. You put your hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kiari. I know how tough this must be on you."

She smiles. "Thanks Ratchet. Don't know what I'd do without you."

You smirk. "You'd be dead."

She looks shocked for a second and then starts laughing. "You _asshole_!"

It's good to see her laugh and nice to see her smile.

You…feel weird.

**Your POV:**

Ratchet really does always make you feel better.

**Congrats to MrBlack103 for guessing right! Smart fellow, that one. I'll update again tomorrow (or maybe today, LOL) and what makes me happy is the fact that we're getting close to finishing Wonderland. Then I'll finish Born This Way and put up their sequels. Then I'll add my Jak and Daxter story and then we can do the crossover story. I already know what I'm going to do after that.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	17. Chapter XVII

**Here's the new chapter of Born This Way. This chapter is for MrBlack103 and Shannyrox101 for their reviews. C: I hope you'll both be around for the sequel. We're nearing the end! Finally! This story is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I was expecting it to be around 50-60 chapters. Now I know it won't be any bigger than 25. In this chapter, Kiari becomes Arianna again and she meets Clank in person for the first time.**

**Your POV:**

After getting past Carina, another Valkyrie who wanted revenge for what you did to Libra, you land on planet Vapedia. It looks like something from the prehistoric age, with tall palm trees and large rocks. It's pretty mild in temperature, defiantly different from the dead and barren Tombli outpost. You grab your music player off the dashboard so Clank can translate what's on the back when you meet him. Getting out of the ship, you see that Alister's already beaten you there. "Clank's distress call terminates somewhere inside the Citadel. This calls for a classic smash and grab."

"Now that sounds like fun." You said with a grin.

…

After hours of hoverbooting and getting through to the citadel, you meet up with Cassiopeia. She's behind a turret and she is _not_ happy to see _you_. "Well, well, well." She sounds like she's about to kill you. And she probably is. "If it isn't the galaxy's favorite Lombaxes."

You groan. "Oh great, you're gonna try and kill us, aren't you?"

Alister steps forward. "Our quarrel isn't with you, Cassiopeia. Hand over Clank, and we'll cause no more trouble." Alister should know there is no point in reasoning with people like her.

She laughs at you, but it's not happy. You can't tell if that laugh is bitter or angry. "Cause no more trouble, huh? Carina and Libra are dead thanks to you!" You bite your lip and stare at the ground. Killing robots and killing Valkyries are two different things. Robots can be rebuilt and they're programmed with only destruction in mind. But Carina and Libra were…truly living beings. You can't ignore the guilt you feel. "And now that we've gotten what we need from the caretaker, his time has come. Valkyries, destroy the Lombaxes!" She flies away.

Alister starts to chase after her. "She's going to kill Clank! I'm going after her!" Ratchet tries to stop him, but he's not faster enough.

You've already got Valkyries closing in. You and Ratchet stand ready, back to back. "You ready pal?" He asks.

"Always."

…

After getting past Cassy's death traps and the Valkyries that attacked you at every turn, you finally come to face Cassiopeia herself. She's on her ship with the turret on it, and you…actually can't tell if she's pleased or not. "I'm actually happy you survived the training course. It would've been a shame to lose such worthy opponents to some cheap machine."

Ratchet smirks and looks up at her. "Speaking of cheap machines," You learned from the conversations Cassy and Nefarious had while you were doing the training course that they're actually seeing each other. It…makes you feel weird, knowing Cassy has a boyfriend. Why is that…? "How much is your boyfriend paying you to do his dirty work?" And who's Courtney Gears?

"Quick tongue." Cassy starts. "And an amusing observation coming from two orphans who are doomed to spend their lives alone! Ratchet, you know that little robot of yours was ready to kick up his little metal feet and stay in the Great Clock forever? Yeah! He wants to leave you, didn't you know that? But don't worry. I'll kill all three of you before he has the chance!" A tank slides open, and you see an unconscious little robot suspended in midair.

"Clank! What did you to him?" Ratchet shouts.

"Nothing, compared to _what I'm about to do to you_!"

…

Cassy is fierce in battle; she's hostile, and not afraid to get things messy. She's dropping bombs on you and Ratchet-big ones too-and it's not safe.

And of course, she feels the need to torture you too. "Oh, and Kiari," She calls to you as you look up at her with your wrench in your hand. "Did you know that Alister has been keeping dirty little secrets from you?"

You let out a gasp, and then bare your teeth at her. "Alister's told me everything! He would never lie to me!" Alister's told you everything about your past, about your mother and even your father, no matter how much that pains him. He taught you almost everything you know, and Ratchet's taught you the rest. Alister would always tell you the truth!

She laughs at you. "Of course you'd think that, with that blind faith you have in him. And it's such a shame you trust him so much. I believe he plans to take those secrets to the grave."

You only growl before you attack her.

…

Cassy's machine finally explodes, and with a scream of agony, she crashes through the tank that's holding Clank who falls with her. Ratchet only looks down for a split second before he jumps down. "Ratchet!" You shout, and then you engage your hoverboots and chase after them.

"Clank!" Ratchet yells, his voice echoing. "Wake up!" Clank's green eyes open and Ratchet slides off a building and grabs him, you staying close behind.

"Hey guys." You say casually with Ratchet and Clank looking at you like you got two heads.

Only then it turns into a total nightmare, when you almost crashed into-well, almost everything, basically-and you have to do a lot of bouncing off the walls. You grab Ratchet's hand, and you slam force backwards to activate the brake procedure Alister taught you, skid the land, and almost fall of the ledge before Ratchet grabs Clank and they fall on their backs. Finally, a long awaited reunion.

"Hello, Ratchet." Clank says.

Poor Ratchet, he's lying there trying to catch his breath, his hand over his heart. "Hey pal, how you doin'?"

"Fine, you?"

"Fantastic. Yeah, I'm just-I'm just gonna lie here for a while though, okay?" He must be so tired.

You stand up, brush the dirt off your armor, and lock eyes with Clank. He can't even say a word before you burst out laughing. They both look at you like, "What's so funny?"

"_He's so tiny!"_

…

Alister arrives in his ship, and you get past formal introductions. Before you can give your name again, you want your real name. You reach for your music player in your back pocket, and hand it over to Clank. "Clank, I know we just met in person for the first time and all and I'm not trying to be rude, but can you translate this for me? I think it says my real name on it." You've already explained your situation to him, and he seems happy to help.

Clank nods, and takes it from your hand. He scans it for a few minutes, your anticipation growing by the second. Finally, he says, "If my translator is correct, I believe it says 'Property of Arianna Artenie'."

You catch your breath. For a second, you thought your heart was gonna stop. It takes a few minutes for it to sink in. Arianna is your real name. You smile. "My name is Arianna Artenie."

"Arianna." Ratchet ponders it for a minute. "I like it. It's better than Kiari. It sounds more original."

Arianna. It feels so…normal.

**Alister's POV:**

It really is her.

**Your POV:**

You smile. "Thanks, Clank."

…

You caught Clank with what happened to Orvus. You stand next to Alister and Ratchet sits next to Clank on his ship. "I'm sorry about your father, Clank. I should've stopped Nefarious sooner."

You nodded. "I'm sorry too, Clank."

Clank puts his hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "It is alright." He glares. "Nefarious will pay for what he has done." Damn straight, he will. "All that matters now is that we keep the clock safe."

Alister had been looking at the picture he has of himself and Kaden. "Don't worry. Once the past has been corrected, you'll have the full support of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. The clock will be in good hands."

"You do not understand." Wow, that's the first time you've heard Clank sound so forceful, but Ratchet doesn't seem surprised. "Time cannot be changed. Using the clock improperly could rip the very fabric of existence."

"Or," Alister turns stern himself as Ratchet jumps off the ship and turns away, trying to clear his head as Alister continues. "It could save an entire race of Lombaxes who gave their lives to defend don't this galaxy." You…don't know what to do. You really, really don't want to be the one to destroy the universe, but Alister…this means everything to him. And this is the only chance you have to save your parents.

Clank jumps off the ship. "Ratchet, remember the Dimensionator?" The _what_? Argh, why does no one tell you these things? Obviously, your past isn't the only thing that's a blank for you! "Some risks are not worth taking."

"Well…" Ratchet says finally while you stay quiet. You don't know what to say. Loyalty really tears you apart, doesn't it? "Maybe Clank's right. If there's even a chance it could destroy the universe, the risk is just too great."

"Risk?" Alister asks. "Risk is what makes us who we are! Ratchet, our kind is lost without us. Think of how many that clock could save. Think of your parents."

Ratchet turns away from him and you follow him and Clank to Aphelion. "I'm sorry. We need to stop Nefarious before he makes the same mistake we almost did." You turn back, and your heart almost shatters when you see Alister's hurt face. He turns away and gets into his ship. "So, you coming, general?" He takes off just before Ratchet turns around. "General?" And then he's gone.

You watch him for a second while Clank and Ratchet head into Aphelion. "You okay?" Ratchet asks.

You nodded. "Yeah." You just can't get his face out of your mind. You start to wonder if you made the right choice.

**Yay, chapter 17. And it's four pages and almost 2000 words long! I feel proud of myself. Again, we're almost done people!**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	18. Chapter XVIII

**Chapter 18! I'm so excited. ^W^ I have a new story up, Fire, under Monster High. So yeah. That's four stories I need to work on now. But I can totally do this. It's not like I have a life or anything. **

**Your POV:**

You need to sit in the back since Clank took your seat (hmph), so you've just been staring out the window into space. It really is huge. Huh, maybe Qwark was actually right. Speaking of Qwark, you hear his voice and lean forward. "Mega-hero to Ratchet, come in."

"Is that…Captain Qwark?" Clank asked.

"Clank! Well, I'll be Skrunch's uncle! Where'd you come from?"

"There's no time to explain." Ratchet said quickly. "We need to stop Nefarious from reaching the clock. We're on our way to the station now, but you need to find a way to stall him."

"Way ahead of you, Ratchet! In fact, I'm further undercover than I've ever been before! Ever…"

You raise an eyebrow. "Qwark, what did you do?" You feel a little bit of concern, which is evident in the way you ask the question.

"…When we get home, let's never talk about this again."

You only shrug, deciding you're going to find out for yourself sooner or later. Clank nodded. "We will meet you outside the station. Ratchet, Clank, and Arianna out."

"Arianna?" Qwark questioned. "Well, what happened to Kiari?"

"It's a long story. We'll explain later." You said.

…

Riding the transport, you see Qwark dressed in a…nurse's outfit? And where did he get lipstick? …Now you get why he didn't want to talk about this ever again. Qwark smiles. "Hey, look who it is!" He puts up Clank in a big hug, leaving you standing there with Ratchet. "Welcome back, little guy!" He turns away and tries to whisper to keep quiet, but you and Ratchet can still hear him. Ratchet's looking at him like, "What the fuck is he wearing?" "Am I glad you're here. You-know-who were terrible sidekicks. Some people just don't take our line of work seriously."

Did he just call you and Ratchet _sidekicks_?

Ratchet glares at him. "Hey, we're not the ones sitting on the sidelines while everyone else marches into certain death."

Qwark stands up, drops Clank to the ground (poor little guy, god, he's so little) and pulls something out of his pocket. "Sit on the sidelines? And let this baby go to waste?" It's a little black thing with a yellow stripe on it. "It's one of those cool smoke bombs the spies use." He explained with a wink. You just start there with your hand on your hip with a face that says, "Really?" "You know, for making quick and fancy getaways?" You and Ratchet look at Clank who just shrugs. "Oh, forget it." He tosses you a little slideshow thing. "Here, it's my most ingenious, full-proof plan yet."

"_The Nefarious Space Station: an impenetrable fortress fraught with danger and…windows. Using my feminine wiles, I was able to convince the custodial staff to temporarily reroute the south wing trash chute. This will be our point of entry. With the motion sensors deactivated, we should have smooth sailing in the south wing. Harnessing eight years of high school theater workshops, I will remain undercover as the lovely Shannon. My objective will be to escort you here-" _There's a picture of Qwark in a sunny location with a drink in his hand and wearing a floral-print red shirt. _"Woops, ha. That's a vacation picture from the Maktar Resort Single Mingle. Don't know how that got in there. I'll escort you here to a conveniently exposed thermal exhaust port. We will then endure rigorous calisthenics until we have lost enough body fat to squeeze through the port."_

"Maybe…I should handle this part of the mission." Clank suggests.

"Um…sure…" Qwark muttered, and you don't know if he's offended because Clank wants to alter the plan a bit or because he didn't think of that idea first. "That sounds quicker."

"_Now, that port leads directly to Nefarious' personal quarters. Using the gigamorphic holo-ray, you'll be able to scan him and create a holographic disguise for Ratchet. Don't know what to do about Arianna though."_

You smile, thankful for listening to Ratchet's advice. "I got that covered." You show him the chip, and when you see his face, you say quickly, "I'll explain later."

"_With the disguise engaged, we should be able to breeze past the guards and infiltrate mission control where we'll use the main security terminal to atomize every docked ship in the fleet. With Nefarious trapped like a rat and the clock safe, we can contact galactic authorities so that I may bask in the awesome glow of their admiration!" _

You slap your forehead. Of course, he may this all about him.

...

You hop onto the platform, and Ratchet says, "Alright, I have to ask: what's with the nurse's outfit?"

"Ingenious, isn't it? It's part of an elaborate deception plan. It mostly involves a lot of hip-swinging and puppy dog eyes."

"Okay then." You mutter, after hearing Qwark's explanation.

"Well, white's…certainly your color." Ratchet says with a small, amused smile.

"Oh thanks!" Qwark grinned. "I always fancied myself a winter."

…

Coming to the chute that leads to Nefarious' quarters, Clank hops of Ratchet's back and you can hear the echo of his metal footsteps in the vent. In a few moments you hear a "Holo-guise complete. I'm returning to the rendezvous point."

Unfortunately, the disguise isn't exactly perfect. While Ratchet looks just like Nefarious and you can't see Clank on his back… "Hm, must've forgotten to tune the auto-scaler. Well, close enough." Nefarious is around Qwark's height, but Ratchet has remained being just over five feet tall. "Try your vocal modulator."

"Test, test," His voices splits for a moment and then he sounds like Nefarious too. "One, two. It works! Now, let's finish this and go home."

What are you doing to do when this is over? You…assume you're going to go home with Ratchet. It's…not like you have anywhere else to go. You still don't know who you really are-well, you do, but you don't remember your friends or your family. And Alister…you still have that betrayed, hurt expression he had on the insides of your eyelids. So, you guess you'll just…be with Ratchet. If that's okay with him, of course.

"Arianna, what about you? You said you had something…uh…" Hearing Qwark's voice, you were snapped out of your thoughts.

You nodded, and attached the chip to your skin, hoping it doesn't dig in this time because that was painful. Thankfully, it's fully-healed by now thanks to Nanotech. You look down at your hands and you can tell you've returned to being that furless creature you must've looked like.

"Where are you, Lawrence?" Ratchet called, and a hologram of Lawrence appears.

"Yes sir, how may I be of assistance?" He sounds so bored and irritated; you wonder if he notices "Nefarious'" height change, or if he even cares.

"Give me a situation report."

"The search for Ratchet and the female has our armada stretched thin, but we do have a small fleet on the outer perimeter. They should arrive as soon as they've completed their patrol, sir."

"Send down the elevator."

"Right away, sir."

The elevator opens up, and Ratchet says goodbye to Lawrence.

**Ratchet's POV:**

_I like this girl so much,_

_She's always on my mind._

_We have an awesome time,_

_We never crossed the line._

_She don't wanna mess up the friendship,_

"_Friendzies."_

_I'm in a frenzy 'cause my bedroom's empty._

_And I'm gently attempting to win her over by being as good as a friend as I can be._

_She's tempting, but riddled with doubt._

_Friend Zone is like the mafia-you'll never get out!_

_She doesn't know the half,_

_In my wallet, I keep her photograph._

_I've made my decision:_

_For you baby girl,_

_I'd change religions!_

'_Cause in your eyes I see heaven._

_Girl, I think about you 24/7._

_Before the story ends,_

_I wanna know:_

_Can we be more than friends?_

Looking at Arianna-that name still feels so different-you…like her better with her disguise off. She doesn't look like the girl you know-and doesn't really sound like her either. How would you feel if some other girl came to take her place? What if…something happened to her? That thought turns your stomach into knots. You don't want to lose Arianna. She's one of your closest friends, and she's your closest female friend.

Recently, when you start thinking of her, you feel kinda…funny. You're not unhappy, but you feel like you're floating.

She really does amaze you. She's always so happy and upbeat, and she can hold more than her own in battle. And when you're in trouble, she's always the first to come and help you-just like you are with her. She's brave, loyal, and she's just…amazing. You've never met another girl like her before; sure, there's Tawlyn, and before you met her, you knew Sasha and Angela, but you never actually had anything with any of them-at least, not something serious. But Arianna just has something about her that just…draws you to her. It's difficult to explain, yet at the same time…it's really not.

**Your POV:**

Heading into the main room, you see Terachnoids at work stations, and Ratchet calls for Lawrence. Lawrence is not pleased. "I really am quite busy sir; what do you need?"

"Give me a situation report." Ratchet orders again.

Lawrence nodded. "No word on Ratchet, the female, or the elder yet sir, but we can assume Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega 91 failed quite miserably." Ratchet reprimanded him, yelling and pointing out his flaws like Nefarious would do. You try really hard to keep a straight face, because it's hysterical. However, what Lawrence asks next throws you off. "Speaking of females, sir, who is that with you? I know Ms. Shannon, but I do not recognize her."

"I'm Arianna. Dr. Nefarious had enlisted me in the search for Ratchet, the girl, and the elder." You stutter, trying to composure.

"Hm. I see. I assume that if the girl is not with Ratchet, she must be with the elder."

You nodded, which did make sense, after all where else would you be? They must know about how you don't remember your family members. You'd have nowhere else to go and no one else to go to.

Ratchet nodded. "Order the fleet to land!"

Lawrence shook his head. "Oh, I'm afraid a fleet landing would be impossible at the moment, what with all of the big, scary rocks in the way. You do remember asteroids, don't you sir?"

Ratchet dismisses Lawrence, and you turn to who you think is Pollyx, who's at the main station. He's surprised to see you. "Dr. Nefarious! You didn't have to come all the way over here! The Hypernova Defense Laser is quite capable of clearing the debris. Say, would you like to test it out?"

"Sure, I like shooting stuff." Wow, Ratchet. You're biting your lip to keep yourself from laughing.

"The controls are yours, sir."

…

Ratchet looks like he had a lot of fun shooting the asteroids. Pollyx stood by and complimented your aim (probably because he knew Ratchet could send him to interrogation as a traitor if he wanted to) and told you the area was now clear to land. "I'll stay here and man the laser in case those meddling Lombaxes show up." You must've seriously caused these guys some grief, because Pollyx had the nastiest look on his face when he brought you and Ratchet up.

"Lawrence!" Ratchet shouted. He really does sound just like Nefarious. But you certainly miss his real face. Lawrence appears one more time, and Ratchet orders him to land the fleet.

"Oh goody, I get to press a button. And they said my intellect would be squandered under your employ. Standby for fleet arrival."

Ratchet turns back to Pollyx. You're kind of sad about this though. "Take him away!" Ratchet yells.

"_Traitor_?" Pollyx yelled, outraged at the accusation. You can't say you blame him. You'd be pissed too if someone questioned your loyalty. "I have been nothing but _loyal_-" He doesn't finish his sentence before the computer beams away to the cells.

Ratchet turns to the main computer, but you say, "Let me do this, I wanna blow something up."

You can believe he's smiling under that holo-guise and gestures to the computer with his arms. "Milady." The Terachnoids are probably wandering why "Nefarious" is acting so strangely, but they seem to be too scared to question him. You aim the laser at one ship, and it turns bright red, and then explodes. It's like pure potassium coming in contact with water. Sparks fly everywhere, and then it's a total chain reaction. It's like a set of dominoes: one falls, and the others follow. In fiery destruction, the ship is destroyed.

Qwark pulls you and Ratchet into something of a hug. "I feel very close to you, right now."

Okay, that is beyond creepy, but thankfully you've saved by the alarm. You and Ratchet jump down, fend off the robots (god damn that alarm is irritating) and head into the elevator.

Qwark seems rather proud of himself, and you have to say, he's actually earned it. His plan went off without a hitch, and it actually was ingenious, not to mention hilarious. And then of course, he has to jinx it. "You know, often times when I say this, it results in catastrophe, but what the hey-mission accomplished!"

And then, catastrophe struck.

The elevator doors opened and you saw a particularly displeased-looking Nefarious standing there with two robots-as in, the real Nefarious. Qwark grabs Ratchet, and then drops him. "You're not Dr. Nefarious!" He says, and then slaps him. The holo-guise is damaged, and Ratchet returns to his real form. Deciding it's pointless now, you remove the chip and your holo-guise flashes and then disappears. Looking at Nefarious' face, you now see there's a scar there. You remember when you went to investigate Orvus' disappearance, and then you remember the bomb Ratchet threw at him.

Ratchet tries to talk some sense into him, seeing as how you had no other alternative. "Nefarious, you can't use the clock. Nothing you could want is worth risking the universe."

Nefarious disagrees, and you just really want to turn this guy into scrap metal. He knows something about you-you know he does-and after the way he talked to Alister…and what's he going to do to the universe… "Oh, but there is. And I have you four to thank for it!" He puts his fingers to his head and yells, "Initiate super-wavy flashback effect!"

"_Thanks to you two, and your dimwitted friend here, I found myself drifting through the cosmos. Have you ever spent time on an asteroid? It's surprisingly boring! Nothing for a villain to do but dwell on his failure! Then, one day, the Fungoids saved us. But still…failure burned inside my circuitry! How could I have been defeated by the likes of you? Why had the universe been tipped in your favor? I embarked on a crusade to the inner recesses of what you call 'the soul'. I studied Fungoid meditation, attended anger management class, dabbled in yoga, ATTENDED MORE ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASS…until finally, I went on a spirit walk on planet Quantos. It was there I found what I had been missing-the great Clock!"_

After a long, lengthy flashback, Nefarious continues with his evil plan. "With the clock under my control, I'll be able to wrong all the rights in the universe! Every villain who has ever stumbled will get a do-over! Every protagonist's triumph will be reversed! Until finally, a new present is created-in which the heroes always lose!" He throws his head back and gives a maniacal laugh and then points at you, and yells, "Guards!"

…

In about ten minutes, things go from great, to bad, to really, really bad. You're strapped to an asteroid with Ratchet in between you and Clank. Nefarious is beyond overjoyed. "How do you like my Asteroid-Flinger 5000? I had it installed in case I ever needed a super-ironic death scenario!"

Ratchet is still trying to talk some sense into him. "Nefarious, you're making a mistake."

You growl. "Don't bother, Ratchet. It's pointless. Nefarious is too much of an idiot to see what he's doing."

Nefarious glowers at you for a second, and you lock eyes for a few moments. You narrow your eyes, and then he says, "You. Girl." He gives a smirk and then says, "You're just like your father."

What he just said proved you were right. He does know you! "You know him?" You have so many questions. One of them is- "Nefarious, how do you know who my father is? Who is he?" You feel so…shocked. Nefarious has all of the answers; all you need to do is make him talk.

Nefarious laughs in response. "He hasn't even told you? The elder, the man you have so much trust in, hasn't told you who your father is? Probably because he doesn't want you to know."

You wonder if Alister wants to be your father. He wants to be the one to raise you-your father may still be alive but Alister doesn't want you to go the man who stole your mother from him. You realize now, that if it wasn't for your father (whoever he is) your mother would've loved Alister. You're sure they would've ended up together. Now you see how difficult it must be for Alister to accept you're another man's child if he went to the length of lying to you when you look so much like your mother.

"I do trust Alister. And I know that he's lied to me," It's not a truth you want to face, but he's got good damn reason to lie to you. "But at this point, I can't say I care." You growl. "It doesn't matter who my biological father is. As far as I'm concerned, Alister _is_ my father." You snap. "He loved my mother, and I know he would've raised me if he had the chance. He's taught me more than anyone else has-anyone else except Ratchet. They're my family. I don't need to know anyone else."

Nefarious doesn't appreciate your speech-but you meant every word. You're glad you got that out though. Hopefully, Alister will find out some day. "Well, time will tell. Bon voyage, my old nemeses!" He reaches to push a button, and then he freezes.

You hear a radio station playing that show _Lance and Janice_ that you've heard a couple of times during your trips to other planets.

"_You're just a lonely man, Lance. A lonely man boarding the lonely train on its way to Lonely Town."_

"_So help me, it's true! All aboard for Lonely Town. Choo choo, Janice, choo choo."_

The minion reaches over and places Nefarious' finger on the button; the door opens and you're sent flying through space; it's cold and icy, just like you'll be in a few moments. The force is unbelievable. You hold tightly to Ratchet's hand. When you hit the ground, everything goes…black.

**Woot, eight! And over 3,000 words! I'm thinking this is my longest update EVER. Which is why it took me the course of two days. I really want to have this story finished over the weekend (since I have Monday and Tuesday off) and it'll defiantly be finished by next week. Then we can move on to the sequel! Finally! The end is nigh! **


	19. Chapter XIX

**Chapter 19! So, it's about 3am here (I get up at two), and I got more reviews than usual for the last chapter, so I updated again! And in all honesty, I just really want to finish this story and do the sequel (because I've beaten All 4 One like a billion times).**

**Your POV:**

You feel strange, tingly, but you don't feel any pain…

Is this heaven?

When you sit up, you realize it's not. Ratchet and Clank have woken up too, and you all have this little blue energy around you. So you're not dead. You stand up and dust the dirt off your armor. "We've made more graceful exits, but I suppose we should be grateful nothing's broken."

Ratchet sat up and examined his arm, looking at the blue energy. "What the…? What…is this?"

Clank stands up and you see that there are three Zoni behind him. The canister that Ratchet's been keeping them in is wide open. "It appears the Zoni protected us during the crash."

You help Ratchet to his feet as the Zoni say a simultaneous "He must not reach the clock" and then they fly back into the canister. Ratchet gave a sheepish smile. "Thanks for the help, guys." Clank gives him that look like a parent that's about to lecture their bad child, but before he can, Ratchet walks past him with a little smirk. "What? I'll give 'em back." Clank only shrugged and followed you and Ratchet.

Looking at your surroundings, it's not pretty. There are broken and worn monuments of what you think are the Zoni that are overgrown with weeds and vines. The sky is clouded with gray, and it's pouring down rain. You wonder what happened here.

"Ratchet, Arianna," Clank regains your attention. "We do not have a lot of time. Destroying the armada will not keep Nefarious away from the clock for long."

Ratchet nodded. "There's no time to contact galactic authorities. That means it's up to us. Come on, there's gotta be a ship somewhere on this backwater planet."

You nodded, staying close to Ratchet. You see a couple of buildings, but they're just as dilapidated as the statues of the Zoni. You start down the path, and the creatures here are nasty. Huge dragonflies and bugs with pinchers. You don't know what the dragonfly-like creatures are spitting at you, but after the Tetramites, you don't want to find out.

After getting past them, and getting across the river, you find a Fungoid. Wow, you were certain nobody was living here, what with the awful condition everything is in. You thought for sure this planet was abandoned. The Fungoid is happy to see you. "Praise Orvus, I have visitors! Have you come to hear about the historic Battle of Gimlick Valley?" Ratchet tries to explain that you're trying to stop an evil mastermind from taking over the universe, but the Fungoid interrupts. "Splendid! It all started many years ago, when I was just a child."

"_Chief Zahn Gribnak was manning his post at the Erundai Outpost, when suddenly…"_

He tells you about how the Agorians attacked, simply out of their violent nature.

"_Desperate to protect our, Gribnak led a team of under-trained, poorly-equipped soldiers into battle. Sadly, victory would not be theirs. Chief Gribnak and his noble lot were captured, imprisoned, briefly pardoned, imprisoned again, and killed. The death of Zahn left us defenseless. Without him, Commander Argos laid waste to our village by destroying the Erundai Floodgate. It was a crushing defeat."_

"If only Zahn had been there to defend us against Argos!" The Fungoid lamented. "I guess you can't change the past." It's not that you can't, it's just not a good idea.

"Ratchet, Arianna," Clank whispered. "I believe I may have a way to help the Fungoids and give us a ride. Head to that time rift. Sigmund, come in." Who's Sigmund? "I need you to stabilize a time portal into the Battle of Gimlick Valley."

You hear another voice and you realize it must belong to Sigmund. "Accessing Breegus Almanac now, sir. Got it! Stabilizing time portal in three, two, one!"

Entering the time portal, you come to the past to find it's a warzone. There are missiles being fired, and you hear screaming and shouting. Over all of the destruction of the Fungoids' homes, you hear Argos. "Attention, miserable creatures. This is Commander Argos. Pursuant to article seventeen of the Agorian Code of Interstellar Acquisition. This sector now belongs to me. Leave now or face execution by firing squad!" He's not kidding. There are Agorians setting buildings and trees on fire.

There's a child pulling on Ratchet's arm. "Mister, Miss, you have to help us! The Agorians kidnapped our chief." He mispronounces kidnapped "kid-nap-dead".

"Do not worry," Clank says from Ratchet's back. "We are here to assist."

"A talking lunchbox? _Cool_!"

You giggle a little bit, but you activate your helmet-you're not sure how much more brain damage you can take.

Ratchet readies himself as well. "Stay behind us kid-we'll save him."

Of course, life feels the need to screw with you, and you hear an Agorian alerting the commander. "Commander Argos, our spotters report two Lombaxes near the Erundai Floodgate. They could be after the prisoner."

Argos shouts back, "Zahn cannot be allowed to escape, do you hear me? Execute them before they reach the detainment camp!" Why does everything need to try and kill you?

The Agorians are just as unpleasant as you remember. They seem like they were always ruthless and violent killers. It's a good thing you've gotten more coordinated, otherwise…yeah, you'd die. And of course, you've got Ratchet to help you. As long as you have him, you'll be fine.

Getting across the bridge, the Agorians are following orders. They've even gotten drop ships. Getting into battle, you hear shouts of "I hate Agorians!" and "Blast him!" You need to disable their shields before you can get a clean shot of the Agorian soldiers. And they're deadly. You cover Ratchet while the Agorians with giant blades in their hands come at you.

…

You finally get to the containment cell, and well…you can't wait until this is over and you get to go home. Hm. Where is home? Does…does it even matter anymore?

Getting the door open, the chief doesn't look too happy to see the child. "Yurik!" He lectures. "What are you doing out of the shelter? Your mother will be very disappointed."

"But…" Yurik says with a slight whimper in his voice. "These Lombaxes are here to help us!"

Ratchet smiles and says casually, "I'm Ratchet. This is Arianna and this is Clank."

"I'm Zahn. This Tufur and Enat. Yurik, go take shelter with the others. We'll protect the floodgate!"

That gets a lot more complicated when the Agorians drop hydra tanks that are attempting to destroy the floodgate. Which is especially bad; not just because of the Fungoids, but because if Ratchet dies now, that means what he did in the future would never have happened-and that includes what he did to stop Tachyon. The image of losing Ratchet is…painful. Your heart's in your throat, and it stings…painfully. You don't want to think about losing Ratchet. It…hurts.

Taking down the first hydra tank is a team effort, and all you have besides Ratchet are Zahn, Tufur, and Enat. That's "all units". Regardless, it's better than nothing. First, you disable the hydra tank's shield, and then open fire. You rip out its power source, and one of the heads explodes. When you get down to the last head, that's when things get difficult. It starts firing multiple attacks at once, including lasers and something of a shockwave.

…

Destroying the last hydra tank leaves Commander Argos very displeased. "Attention, Fungoids! This is Commander Argos. My offer to spare your lives in exchange for this valley has expired! Stand by for execution!"

"Commander Argos is trying to flood the valley. We have to get to the top of the floodgate." Clank really is calm in dire situations. Fortunately, he's not the only one who can work under pressure.

"I think I have an idea." Ratchet says. "We have to find some of those vine seeds."

You nodded, remembering that you used vines to ascend. "Right."

Clank looked confused. "I do not understand. How will seeds help us defeat the Agorians?"

"Trust me."

You smiled and nodded. "No reason to doubt you yet." You and Ratchet each pick up a seed, and you hoverboot to the garden near the Zoni statue while Ratchet goes to the one up the steps and then handles the last one.

A large vine grows near the time portal, and you join Ratchet and watch. Ratchet smiles. "Wow. What are the chances that would happen?"

"You…do not want to know." Clank says dismissively.

Ratchet shrugs. "Come on. Let's get back to the present." You can hear cries of "Come on! Let's show the Agorians they can't push us around!" and "We can do this!"

You smile, and you, Ratchet, and Clank head through the time portal.

You ride the vine, staying close behind Ratchet, and then you're back through the time portal, only this time you're right on top of the floodgate and up against Argos. He is not taking you seriously. He's laughing at both of you. "Oh, that's rich! Two Lombaxes against a Class 3 Agorian space cruiser! You should have left the galaxy with the rest of your kind!"

The battle starts out easy. He fires lasers, but they're a bit slow and they're easy to dodge. Then after you rip out part of his power supply and disable his shield the first time, he ups his game and the lasers are fired faster.

Finally, after the last of his power is gone, his space cruiser falls into the river and you hear him crying out, "Help! I can't swim! Momma! Your little boo-boo needs help! Momma!" You snort when you hear him crying for his mommy.

You look up to the sky and you wonder if your mom is watching you. You hope she is.

Getting down from there, you meet up with Chief Zahn who's overjoyed with your victory. Argos is gone, which means that the battle is won! You've altered the past for the better! Paradox heroes, chyeah. "The Fungoids will remember this day forever. We owe the three of you our gratitude. Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

Ratchet smiles. "Well, now that you mention it, we'd love to use that ship."

"Well, it might take some time to fetch it out of the creek, but when we do, it's all yours. Now, if you'll excuse me, we must tend to the other villagers.

You smile and nod, and three of you head back to the present one more time, only everything has changed. It's beautiful and sunny, and not sticky and wet like it used to be. The Zoni monuments looked restored and tower over the valley, keeping a watchful eye on it. There are plenty of healthy plants-and there are also statues of you, Zahn, Ratchet, and Clank.

There's a Fungoid polishing the Agorian space cruiser parked near the statues. He turns to you and says, "Oh, hey, you're early! The reenactment doesn't start until tonight."

"Reenactment?" Ratchet asks.

"Well, sure! Of the historic Battle of Gimlick Valley. It was a shining victory in Fungoid history. Say, do I know you three? You look awfully familiar." Is that Yurik? As an adult?

Ratchet smiles. "Uh, nope. First time here."

"And our second." Clank chuckles. "We were just admiring your Agorian space cruiser."

Yurik smiles. "She's perfectly restored. I was going to take her up for the show, but her batteries are dead."

"I believe we may be of assistance. If we were to bring back a few battery bots, would you allow us to borrow your ship?"

"Well, I suppose that'd be okay-so long as I get it back in time for the show." While that's something you can't guarantee, you can at least try to.

While you were collecting battery bots, you discovered the settlement is populated with Fungoids, adults and children. Everyone is happy, laughing, and even making jokes about Argos. Some "warrior" he was, crying for his mommy.

You throw the last battery bot in, and the ship springs to life. Yurik smiles. "We've got full power! Alright, she's all yours. Bring her back in one piece, okay?"

You nodded (though, again, that's not something you can promise), and you get in the ship, once again in the backseat. Ratchet looks things over. "Okay. Altimeter, thruster, warp drive."

"Perhaps we should read the instruction manual." Clank suggests.

The ship lifts off the ground, and you smile. "See? Nothin' to it. And now the booster!" He flips a switch, and you hear music.

"That is the radio." Clank says.

"Hold on, I'll just-" You hear something snap and hit the floor of the ship. "That knob wasn't supposed to pop off, was it?"

"Why do I even bother?"

Good question, Clank. Ratchet is just stubborn sometimes.

It's only a few minutes before you return to the Nefarious space station, and you first think of Qwark. You wonder what Nefarious did with him-and then you think about Alister. You hope they're both okay. Even if Qwark is a total brain-dead moron, he kinda still is your friend. And you meant every word about Alister.

_Hot and dangerous,_

_If you're one of us, then roll with us!_

'_Cause we make the hipsters fall in love_

_When we got our hot pants on and up._

_And yes, of course we does,_

_We runnin' this town just like a club_

_And no, you don't wanna mess with us._

_Got Jesus on my necklaces._

_Got that glitter on my eyes,_

_Stockings ripped up on the sides,_

_Lookin' sick and sexy-fied,_

_So let's go,_

_Let's go!_

"Hey, Arianna," Ratchet calls, getting your attention. "Before this is over, I wanna know…did you really mean what you said back before Nefarious shot into outer space?"

You were surprised by his question, but thinking about everything you've been through-everything you've done and the people you've met-you've learned a lot. Not just about weapons and ships and stuff like, but about people and life. You haven't dealt with loss yet, but you know you will someday, like Alister did. He lost your mother, and someday you'll lose him (if you haven't already) and then you'll lose Ratchet. No matter how painful that is, you know it's going to happen someday. You nodded. "I meant every word."

He turns his head. "What are you gonna do when this is over? I mean…you don't remember anything, do you?"

You sigh. "Ratchet, after all of this, I don't think who I was really matters anymore. And even if I do remember…I could never just go back to that life. After all of this, this is normal for me now."

"And what about the people that you're important to?"

You bite your lip. You don't want to hurt them-you really don't, they mattered to you too once-but… "I don't know, Ratchet. I guess…they'll just have to move on. I don't even know them anymore. And maybe I really didn't have any important to me. Maybe I didn't matter to anyone else. I don't want to give up this life for another that…might not be worth it."

"So…who you were before?"

You look at Ratchet, then at Clank, and then you think about all of the friends you've met and all you've accomplished.

You take a deep breath. "Doesn't matter anymore."

**Omfg, next chapter is the last! That's right, people! The next chapter is going to be the last chapter of Born This Way! Then we have the epilogue and credits, and then, the sequel will be up! This will be finished…possibly today! Since it is Friday, and I have a four-day weekend! Let's do this!**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	20. Chapter XX

**Last. Chapter. Omfg. We're at the end! Wow, it's only been a couple of weeks, but we're seriously at the end! I don't know whether I should be happy or cry. Maybe cry tears of joy. Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their sweet reviews and kind words. And I especially want to thank MrBlack103, for pointing out that I was spelling Fongoids wrong. This. Entire. Story. Now I feel like an idiot. Again. In case anyone has forgotten, I kept spelling Alister wrong; I spelled it Allister at the start of the story. We have the epilogue next, then the credits, and then we're done. Forever. Also, Wonderland has not been updated because I want to hurry and finish this story up.**

**Now I'm sure everyone's anxious to read this horribly long chapter, so let's get on with it.**

**Your POV:**

This is it. This is the battle for the universe-if you fail, you've failed everyone. The pressure is crushing you, but hey, you work best under pressure. You give a nod to Ratchet, and you hoverboot to Nefarious who's got Lawrence near him.

"That's far enough, Nefarious!" Ratchet yells. "Stop away from the transport!"

"You! How is this possible?" Nefarious yells. "You should be dead!"

You only smirk, taking a step forward, and more than ready to take a stand. "Not probable, not impossible."

Clank walks closer to Nefarious. "On behalf of galactic authorities, we hereby charge you with willful disruption of the space-time continuum." Nefarious walks closer to you, Clank, and Ratchet and you raise your wrench in case he tries anything. "Step away from the transport and surrender quietly."

"Look at you," Nefarious growls, looking right at Clank. "Free for the first time in years, inches from your destiny, and what do you do? Run right back to playing backpack to a Squishy. You're nothing but a pathetic sidekick." You and Ratchet only growl at him in response. You are not happy to have someone talking to Clank that way. And then, he really goes over the border. "And you-you're just a daddy's girl who's too incompetent to really see the source of her misery. Too weak to be by herself, just a burden to everyone she cares about." You know you shouldn't let his words get to you-you really shouldn't-but…they still sting. You feel your armor crack a bit.

"We should hang out sometime." Lawrence said.

But what Ratchet does next…really shocks you. "That's it." He snapped. "No one talks to Clank _or_ Arianna that way." Wow. He sounds so…he sounds purely pissed off. You've never seen Ratchet so mad. He gets down on one knee and locks eyes with Clank. "When this is over, I'll back whatever decision you make. The same with you, Arianna. But first, how about one final hoorah so we can kick this guy's butt?"

Nefarious uses his rocket boots (cool, you have to admit) and then flies over you. "When I'm finished killing you, I think I'll rewind time so I can do it again. And again. And again!" Clank hops onto Ratchet's back as Nefarious gives a loud, echoing evil laugh. "I've been waiting a long time for this! Lawrence, fall back to the outer perimeter! Let no damage befall our ship!"

"Falling back, sir." Lawrence calls out. "Happy fighting."

Nefarious isn't someone to mess with in battle. There are two lasers coming straight from the space station's eyes that prevent you from getting out of the range of his lasers. After a few minutes of coming close to sending him straight to hell, he yells out, "Lawrence! Initiate Hypernova defense laser!" The two lasers that keep you from moving point at the tower, and then create one laser that's circling your area.

"I hate you." You growl, as you and Ratchet hoverboot to keep away from it. After a few rounds of that, it's back to two-laser-wall.

Then, he gets creative and starts blasting the platform you're on, and you have to hoverboot to safety. Nefarious commands Lawrence to activate the laser on your new platform, which you thankfully just need to jump over. Still, you need to move, and you need to move fast.

Finally, Nefarious goes down. He spams around, falls to the ground, and starts emitting a variety of noises including opera singing and theme music, probably because he's overheated. And of course, you've still got Nefarious' space station coming _right at you_!

Ratchet runs to Nefarious while you stand still with fear. "Nefarious, how do I disengage the autopilot?" He only gets a laugh in response. "Oh, come on, snap out of it!" Ratchet slaps him and then he spasms again and crashes to the ground, both of his eyes busted now. Ratchet turns back to you. "Okay, no need to panic. We just need to find Lawrence before he takes the-" You see Lawrence fly off in a ship "…Escape pod."

The computer voice yells out, "Twenty seconds until impact."

Ratchet turns to you and Clank. "Guys…it's been a heck of a ride."

You close your eyes and prepare for the worst when you hear something going over your head. You open your eyes to see a ship. It's…it's…it's Alister!

"Alister!" You shout, a smile on your face.

"Arianna, Ratchet," Wow, he actually remembers your name. "Come on!" Alister shouts. "You're going to have to jump!"

You nod, and Ratchet tosses Clank on his back and grabs your hand. You jump off the platform while the computer counts down to impact. You and Ratchet latch onto the wing of Alister's ship.

…

Getting to the safety of the Great Clock, it's a real bittersweet moment. You've stopped Nefarious, saved the universe and time itself, but…Ratchet has to say goodbye to Clank. You stand near Alister, a sad expression on your face, and it makes you wonder if you have to say goodbye to Alister too. You're defiantly staying with Ratchet though.

"So…" Ratchet starts. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

Clank shakes his head. You sigh. "Ratchet, we have been on many adventures, but the clock needs someone to protect it. It is…what I was built for." He reaches out to shake Ratchet's hand, but Ratchet pulls him into a hug instead. You feel your heart break in two, and you have the urge to cry. You walk over to Ratchet and pat him on the back.

"Wait," Alister calls, getting your attention. "So what's it?" He asks. "What about the Lombaxes?"

Ratchet shakes his head. "They're not in danger. They've just…moved on. And we'll find them." You nodded, knowing that it'll be harder, but defiantly for the best. "But the past stays where it is." He turns to Clank. "Come on, pal. I'll walk you in." You give one last look to Alister before joining Ratchet and Clank. "You were never a sidekick, you know that, right?"

Clank says lightheartedly, "I always thought you were the sidekick."

You chuckle. "Ratchet? A sidekick? After all that time I've spent with Qwark, I could never consider Ratchet a sidekick."

"Thanks." He says with a slight laugh.

You hear Alister talking to you, but you just keep going. It's for the best, you keep telling yourself, no matter how much it hurts you, it'll hurt so much more and so many others if you turn back. "Where are you going? This is your responsibility. You can't just walk away! The Lombaxes need us!" His voice raises, and your heart stops for a second, but nothing could've prepared you for what happened next. "Don't walk away from me! _I said stop_!"

You saw Ratchet turn around-Alister fires at him. Your blood turns cold as the shot hits him right in the chest. You can't move. You're frozen to the ground in fear. Ratchet coughs-you think you saw blood-and then he…he falls over the edge before Clank could catch him, Clank yelling out, "Ratchet!"

It's only a split second before Alister fires at Clank to, and then…you snap. You ready your wrench, and you…you can't even describe how you feel. Hurt, betrayed, and so…furious. All you can think about is the rage and hurt you feel. "You…" You stand still, not sure of what to do next. "You killed him." You said, your heart broken into pieces at losing the two most important people in your life. "How could you?" You snap. "How could you do this to him? To me? You…I called you my father." Everything's turned red.

You don't even hear Clank's metal feet running towards the clock because you've charged at Alister with only revenge in mind.

You feel so…raw. It's like someone's taken your heart and ripped it out, leaving only an empty hole in its place. Yet, there's still something in your chest pumping blood in your body, and right now your blood is cold. Ratchet was everything to you-he was your world. And now he's gone. He's gone. And it's because Alister-the man you called your father-killed him. How…could he? You feel something cold fall down your face. Then you feel something that's almost a physical prescence in your chest.

Despair.

…

**Clank's POV:**

With Arianna keeping Alister busy-you can't even imagine what she's feeling like right now-you race to the Great Clock. You stare at for a few moments; you know what you want to do, but it's what you shouldn't do. You remember your father's words and the words of others.

"_The clock, much like time itself, is a gift-and not to be tampered with."_

"_You kidding me? You think I'd leave my best pal out here alone?"_

"_Your father went to great lengths to protect this room from those who would abuse it."_

"_I wouldn't risk any more than six minutes."_

The plumber's advice. "Six…minutes?" That's right. Six minutes should be more than enough. You pull the lever, and you find yourself going back in time.

It stops right before Alister hits Ratchet. Everything's frozen-you don't waste any time. You push Ratchet out of the way, and time begins to flow again.

**Your POV:**

What just happened? Did Alister just try…to…you're overcome with shock. All you feel is betrayal. "Alister!" You snap.

He runs off, and you look at Ratchet for a split, nod, and chase after him, using the rails and your hoverboots. "Alister!" You yell. "Have you lost it?"

"Arianna, Ratchet, I'm sorry! I've come too far to fail now!" Alister yells.

"General," Ratchet shouts back. "What are you doing?"

"Correcting a mistake!" Alister responds; you're almost too stunned to say anything. "The Lombaxes are coming home-with, or without your help!"

"General, you have to stop this. You can't change the past!"

"Can't?" Alister scoffs. "You never could let go of consequence, could you?"

You reach the Orvus chamber, and you chase after Alister. You don't want to do this. You don't want to hurt the only man you could ever call your father-but you don't have a choice! It's him, or the universe, and you don't want to hurt anyone else.

A robot pops out of nowhere, and attacks Alister…and he actually gets him good a couple of times. You hear Clank mutter a "Sigmund?" but unfortunately, Alister throws him off and-you're too late. He creates a time shift. Damn it.

Alister calls out to you. "I'm sorry it has to be this way!"

It's a messy and unpleasant battle. Alister's words keep replaying in your mind-you were supposed to be there with him, on his side, not up against him like this. Why _does_ it have to be this way?

You hear a voice over your head. "Quantum tunneling initiated."

"You hear that?" Alister stops the battle for a second with his words. "In a few moments, we'll be able to prevent the greatest injustice in Lombax history!"

"I can't let you do this!" Ratchet yells.

You don't know what to do. You don't. You want what's right-and from looking at the clock, it's exploding a bit in certain places, there's lightning and sparks-you know this isn't right. You…you can't have it both ways-you got to make a choice.

"You don't have a choice!"

"So you're just gonna kill me?"

"Kill you now, save you in the past!"

You growl. "Alister, look around you-the clock is breaking."

Alister shakes his head. "It can handle it-this is what it was built for!"

Only, he proves to be defiantly wrong. There are ashes and burnt marks everywhere; the clock is emitting a blue light, and it's not going to last much longer. You need to do something-something or it's over! Ratchet jumps forward and latches onto the lever as the wind that the clock is creating blows against you in every direction. He tries to pull it, Alister yells at him, demanding what he's doing. "Come on." Ratchet breaks off the lever, and the light becomes stronger, almost blinding.

"It's not working!" Alister shouts. "Why isn't it working?"

"Because it's not a time machine, Alister!" Ratchet yells back. "The clock isn't meant to alter time-only keep it!"

Alister looks at the destruction around you as you hear a voice telling you it's only twenty seconds until total system failure. On his face, you see something you never have before-realization. "I am so sorry." Ratchet tries to stop the chaos, but he's sent flying and hits the ground-hard.

"Ratchet!" You yell as you go to help him up. Ratchet stands up again, aiming to make the attempt again, but Alister stands in front of him.

"No." He says. "Let me."

"But Alister-" You start, but he only shakes his head and forces his way to where the lever used to be. Your heart is racing even faster than before.

"What are you gonna do?" Ratchet asks.

"Take care of yourselves." He says, turning back one last time.

Alister jams his weapon into where the lever was fifteen minutes ago, and you, Ratchet, and Clank run as fast as you can-

And in a blue explosion, you lost a piece of your heart as you were thrown forward.

Getting up off the ground, you see everything's okay-time is still working, the universe hasn't imploded or exploded-but not everything is okay. You see Alister, not moving, on the ground. You rush over to him and shake him. Nothing. You stand up and Ratchet murmurs, "Alister?" No response. He's gone.

Ratchet picks up the photo of Alister and Kaden that Alister had. He closes it and puts it away. Clank puts his hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "Arianna, Ratchet…he did a brave thing. You should be proud of him."

The pain is unreal. All you can do is bury your face in Ratchet's shoulder and cry, feeling his arms wrap around you as the three of you mourn your loss.

_Now that it's over,_

_I just want to hold her._

_I'd give up all the world to see_

_That little piece of heaven looking back at me._

_Now that it's over,_

_I just want to hold her._

_I've gotta live with the choices I made,_

_And I can't live with myself today._

…

With the Zoni's help, it's not long before the clock is up and functioning again. It looks wonderful; advanced, and ready to work. Sigmund is okay too. You told him what Alister did, and he said he would never hold a grudge against Alister, even if Alister did kinda throw him into the wall. It was the Zoni who took him to Fastoon, where they buried him-where he belongs, on a Lombax planet.

Ratchet admires the work that's been done. "Well, looks like there's just one last thing to fix." He plugs the wire into the socket, and the holographic image of Orvus comes back, with the computer girl calling out, "Time keeper restored."

Ratchet and Clank lock eyes for a second, and Ratchet turns away. "I'll…leave you two alone." You nodded and follow him out. He turns back one last time. "Take care of yourself, pal." You put your hand on his back. You're not the only one feeling loss.

Heading back to Aphelion, Ratchet asks, "Are you okay?"

You ponder that question for a bit. You know the answer. "No. I'm not. But I will be."

Ratchet smiled and nodded. "Same here. You sure you wanna stick with me?"

You return the smile. "I could ask you that question." You hop into Aphelion and you reach for the Nanotech to heal your injuries.

"What, and leave you by yourself? You're a total…um…what are the words I'm looking for."

You grin. "I'm a total crazy bitch."

He smirks. "There you go."

You grin and Ratchet begins to start up the ship.

_You know that I'm a crazy bitch,_

_I do what I want when I feel like it._

_All I wanna do is lose control._

_But you don't really give a shit,_

_You go with it._

'_Cause you're fucking crazy rock'n'roll._

_You said, "Hey, what's your name?"_

_It took one look, and now I'm not the same._

_Yeah, you said hey,_

_And since that day…_

_You stole my heart, and you're the one to blame._

_Yeah, and that's why I smile._

_It's been a while since every day and everything has felt this right._

_And now you're turning it all around,_

_And suddenly, you're all I need,_

_The reason why I smile._

You hear the engine roar to life, and you keep thinking you're hearing metal footsteps. You assume your ears are just ringing, and you ignore it. You head for the front seat, but just before the hatch closes, you discover Clank. He and Ratchet (who's obviously shocked to see him there) lock eyes for just a second, but Ratchet doesn't even need to question him.

With you in the back seat, you smile and hug Ratchet from behind, and the three of you-friends to the end-you fly off towards home. Home at last. It's…really over.

All the while, you stare into space, ignoring the dull ache in your heart.

**Finally, this is over! Go see if the sequel's up-do it now, fools! I'm just glad this is over. Finally, finally, finally, the sequel, Born To Be Brave! Just read the epilogue and the credits (neither of which you have to read, but it's good if you do) and then you can (please) read the sequel.**

**See you soon!**

**~Mimi**


	21. Epilogue

**Here's the epilogue for Born This Way. After this, you'll get the credits and then I'll put up the sequel. And by the time you're reading this, it's most likely already up. Here we just see how Arianna, Ratchet, and Clank have been doing since they left the Great Clock in Sigmund's care.**

**Your POV:**

Now that you're home, living in a new apartment in Metropolis, life's…settled down. When you first got here, you crashed on the couch, completely mentally, emotionally, and especially physically exhausted. When you woke up, Ratchet said you were asleep for over a day. In your defense, you totally earned that little hibernation session; after all you've been through.

You've…had a bit of a hard time adjusting. You've only known super hero life, and not having to constantly move around has been weird for you. You put your armor away and you've taken up to wearing…pretty much whatever's around.

You've been fiddling with your music player, taking stupid pictures of your friends now that Clank's showed you how to work the camera. You deleted all of the pictures that were already on there. You've completely put that life behind you now. You ignore the guilt you feel when you think about the people you left. But…without your memories, what does it mean?

Every day is always the same. You wake up, get dressed, eat, then do whatever until lunch, then do whatever until dinner, and then go to bed. Only to wake up and do it all over again tomorrow. It's routine, repetitive, and unchanging. It's gotten really boring, even though the holo-games are cool.

You never leave without your picture of Alister and Kaden. You still miss Alister. He was the closest thing you ever had to a father, and you'll never forget him. When you're sleeping, you open it up and prop it on your dresser. You know he's watching you, wherever he is now. And hopefully, he's proud of you and happy.

You look at the picture you have of Ratchet on your dresser. Seeing his smiling face, even in a photograph, always makes you feel better-less alone. You know you'll never be alone as long as you have Ratchet by your side. He's always right there. You smile, and you get that happy, light-hearted feeling you get whenever you're near him or thinking of him.

You can't help but feel like you can fly.

You know you like him-you woke up morning, and it rocked you like a thunderbolt. You listened to a song about a crush by somebody named Mandy Moore. You slept on it, and when you woke up-you realized just how much you care about him.

_You know everything that I'm afraid of,_

_You do everything I wish I did._

_Everybody wants you,_

_Everybody loves you._

_I know I should tell you how I feel._

_I wish everyone will disappear._

_Every time you call me,_

_I'm too scared to be me._

_And I'm too shy to say…_

_I got a crush on you._

_I hope you feel the way that I do._

_I got a rush_

_When I'm with you._

_I got a crush on you._

Now all you really need to do is tell him how you feel. But what if you mess your friendship with him? Your stomach goes into knots at the possibility.

**Ratchet's POV:**

_Every time I see you,_

_I can see right through you,_

_Knowing I could never change your mind._

_I look into your eyes for the last time,_

_I realize for the first time._

_While everybody's around,_

_I'll take a moment_

_To let you know that I'm down._

Life's gone back to being almost completely normal-except for Arianna. You think she's having trouble adjusting, but she insists she's okay. It's great to have Clank back. You've been catching up, and hanging out. Arianna usually just smiles and watches you play holo-games together. When you're playing with her, Clank quietly reads a book. It's…nice. It's nice, normal, and peaceful. Except when Arianna gets too hyper, and then she's (literally) bouncing off the walls.

_Every night when I close my eyes,_

_I see the ways that you've touched my life._

_What you said to me late last night,_

_I'll remember for the rest of my life._

_Don't know if I'll ever know why,_

_Or hear the sound when an angel cries,_

_But I want you to know,_

_I'll always be right here._

She really has made a difference in your life. Without her-you don't know what getting Clank back would've been like. Lonelier, quieter, and not as fun, you know that much. You think about her more and more, now with nothing else important to focus on, she's all your mind lets you think about.

She's always so happy…she's amazing. Loyal, smart, strong (emotionally and physically) and she always tries her hardest. She's always by your side, and you know she'd do anything for you…like you would for her.

You feel something nagging in the back of your mind. It's trying to tell you something. It's about Arianna.

Do you…like Arianna? Well, obviously you like her. But do you like her like _that_?

You think about what being in a…relationship with Arianna would be like. Arianna's not like all of the other girls.

You realize something.

You do like Arianna like that. You have for a while now-it was always there-always in the back of your mind, but you always ignored it. Now you know why you were always so protective over her, why you never wanted her to go off anywhere alone. Now, all of it makes sense. You wanted to keep her safe-she means so much to you.

Really, how could you not fall for her? She's everything you've ever wanted in a girl, and while you got a little more than you bargained for-she's crazy-she's still the only woman you're going to want for the rest of your life.

Now all you have to do is tell her how you feel-which is defiantly easier than done. You just don't want to mess up the friendship you have with her.

**Your POV:**

And…you've always been having nightmares recently. You just dream about Alister, and what he said to you at the Great Clock. You were supposed to be there with him…on his side…his words keep echoing in your head. You just smile and pretend everything's okay. But you…still can't blame yourself for his death. Sometimes, you wonder if you made the right choice-then you look at Ratchet, and you know you did.

Still…

You'll miss him everyday.


	22. Credits

**It's the end, people! Born This Way is officially completed! Here are the credits, which you don't have to read, but here's where you can find the soundtrack, disclaimer, and credit is given where credit is due! You can also find background information such as inspiration for the story and character and find some scrapped ideas.**

**Stick around for the sequel, and I can assure you, there will be one! It'll take place in Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One. See you then! **

**P.S. If you want really to seem like credits, then listen to "Born This Way" while reading it.**

**Soundtrack:**

**01: Born This Way- Lady Gaga**

**02: DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again- Usher featuring Pitbull**

**03: Crush- David Archuleta**

**04: Army of Love- Kerli**

**05: Friend Zone- Your Favorite Martian**

**06: We R Who We R- Ke$ha**

**07: Lucy- Skillet**

**08: Smile- Avril Lavigne**

**09: Crush- Mandy Moore**

**10: Right Here- Hawk Nelson**

**Special Thanks To:**

**Artemis' Hunters**

**SerenityColtheart**

**RosaRubra**

**TheLombaxWhisperer**

**MrBlack103 (special thanks to him)**

**Shannyrox101**

**Colchanzero**

**Ratchet Thunderfire**

**Lombaxkitti**

**ImplodingInsanely**

**Thanks for the reviews and all of the support you gave (give) me! I hope you like the sequel, because it's for you guys! C;**

**Inspiration:**

**The idea for this story came from playing Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One. I fell in love with Ratchet and Clank, and I decided to make the sister story to "Wonderland". I was sitting in geometry when my teacher was going over stuff I already knew, so I took out my character and designed Arianna. All of my best ideas are from my geometry class! So special thanks to my teacher Mr. Cooke as well! I should pay more attention in his class.**

**I also owe inspiration for Arianna's character and personality to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and I owe inspiration for the plot to Skillet's "Lucy". There is also a reference to Disney's "Tangled" in this story.**

**Scrapped ideas include Arianna keeping Kiari as her name, and a chapter segment that I never used and I deleted. It was too early in the story to use it.**

**Again, I'd like to thank MrBlack103 for pointing out my stupidity.**

**So there are the credits, and now it's time for me to close this story. I'll (hopefully) see you in the sequel, Born To Be Brave! **


End file.
